


A Shot At The Dark

by SirEddy



Category: Wanted (Comics), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Angst, Class 1-A has pretty bad luck, Crossover, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Original Character(s), Self-Discovery, Slow Burn, Tokoyami and Tsuyu especially, Villain Fraternity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-01-20 04:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 66,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12424905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirEddy/pseuds/SirEddy
Summary: Being a hero will never be an easy task, with each held back by their own obstacles. Tokoyami's told that he'll make a great hero, told how powerful his quirk is, and told that he'll bring dread to the hearts of villains everywhere. He wants to believe it, achieve it, but facing the reality that it only takes a bullet and a marksman to end him, makes that dream seem far from his grasp.





	1. Chapter 1

While he was never much for one to go shopping, Fumikage couldn't deny that he wouldn't mind picking up some new CDs to listen too. That, and it did feel good to get out and enjoy some off times with his friends, without it having to be at UA where lord knows what could happen. It was just a welcomed reprieve from school, especially after the stress of the finals. He hadn't been to concerned overall, not at first.

Of course, the practical had its moments where he was worried that he'd fail. Ectoplasm's giant, binding clone had nearly caused him and Tsuyu to, but he was quite thankful to have been partnered with her.

Fumikage shuddered slightly at the memory of her hacking up the handcuffs, as that was honestly a memory he could do without. Desperate times, desperate measures though, so while it may not have been Froppy's most flattering moment, he commended her for the solution to their problem.

They passed though, and that's what mattered to him. So now, it was time for him to just relax until the summer training camp came up. No concerns regarding school, least he was hoping it'd be that way until the camp.

He perked suddenly when his hand brushed across a CD, the teen quickly snatching hold of it to get a better look at it. He beak shifted into a smile as he read the familiar name of Black Bishop across the top. He turned over the casing, eyes scanning over the songs, happy with the find. He didn't own this CD yet, and from what he'd read online the reviews were pretty good. "Well lucky us, Dark Shadow. We'll have something new to listen to on the trip." he said, not thinking about how he spoke it aloud.

"Is there a chance that maybe we could listen to something not so dreary?" the animated shadow spoke, though it responded internally so only Fumikage could hear it.

The teen scowled slightly, this time responding internally as well. "They aren't that bad."

"Break'em all, Crush'em all, show no mercy and trample all the fuckers in your way!" Shadow sung in response, imitating the hoarse tone of a metal singer screaming. He switched back to a standard tone. "Nope, not bad at all."

"Oh shut up, how about when you get money you can pick the CD" Fumikage muttered as he began to head towards the cash register.

"Hey! We are an inseperable team, and I do plenty of work to help you! I think I should at least have some say in what we listen to."

"Too late." he had a smirk on his face as he purchased the CD, Dark Shadow grumbling in his mind. Thanking the cashier, Fumikage then turned and made his way out of the shop. He began his walk with no real destination in his mind at the moment, glancing at his phone to check the time. He still had about an hour or so before their classmates agreed upon time to meet, so he figured maybe he could swing by the book store and see if maybe there was something he could read for the trip.

His trip was halted though when during his walk, he saw a familiar teal-haired individual walking out of a clothing store. Currently, Tsuyu seemed to be sorting through the bag she was carrying, and since she was here Fumikage figured he might as well check up on her.

"Yeah, tell yourself it's just that." Shadow said internally, snickering at Fumikage as he stumbled slightly.

"Shut up, you." the teen responded back.

"Kero?" Fumikage blinked, now realizing he had said that once he had walked up to Tsuyu, who was now staring at him with a finger to her lip.

"Oh! Uh, Hiya Asui." Fumikage rattled out, scratching the back of his head.

"Tsuyu, and I hope you weren't telling me to shut up." she said to him, drawing a nervous glance from him, "Especially since I wasn't even talking."

"No! No, was talking to Shadow. Sorry about that."

It's ok, kero. So what did you get?" she indicated to the small bag hanging off his arm, Fumikage glancing to it as he lifted it up.

"Oh, was seeing if there were anything new I might be able to listen to during the trip. Got lucky too."

"That's good, anything I might know?" she asked looking up at him.

He opened his mouth for a moment, about to answer before stopping himself as the lyrics Shadow had sung him not too long ago went through his head. "Um, well it's a heavy metal group, so probably not."

"You'd be surprised what I listen to at times." She said, before nodding her head to the side. "You want to get something to eat? I'm pretty hungry."

Fumikage stood there for a moment as she started to walk before quickly catching up to her. "Yeah, yeah, sounds like a good idea." He looked to the bag she had as he walked next to her. "So what did you pick up?"

"Just some new clothes to bring along to the camp. Nothing too fancy. Had a sale too, so couldn't pass that up. Thinking of swinging by the bookstore after getting some lunch first."

Fumikage chuckled softly, "I was actually on my way there when I bumped into you. I'll tag along with you afterwards."

She nodded her head, "Sounds like a plan. Maybe we can share book ideas. I've read just about everything I've wanted to so far, so could use some more ideas."

He looked to her, smiling while nodding his head. "I like that idea." Their walk to the food court was short, and thankfully there weren't any big lines they had to wait in. Sitting down at a table, Fumikage munched on some fries before looking to her. Their conversation had tapered off while they both ate their food, though Fumikage eventually found his attention settling on Tsuyu.

Watching her, he thought it amusing to consider that she apparently use to be quite sparse on friends. She had said a busy home-life occupied her time and made it difficult for her to form friends, and when he really thought about it, she was probably one of the most liked in their class. Hell if anything, he sometimes felt like he was more of the odd-ones-out

Even as expressionless as she could be, it never felt she was being apathetic to what was going on around her. No, she was always paying attention, always thinking. Maybe it was the fact she was so willing to just speak her mind that seemed to draw people's attention and even appreciation. You were never going to be deceived, and it's funny how such trust can grow friendships.

"Kero?" even that familiar croak was strangely enjoyable to listen to, though he also found it a bit amusing to think of how many different things it seemed to mean. "Fumikage, there a reason you are staring?" Tsuyu asked Fumikage, staring back at him from across the small table. He blinked, coming to his senses before clearing his throat and looking away, slipping a fry into his beak.

"N-No, no." He quickly said, looknig back at her for a moment before off to the side once more.

"Well if you say so, and also, no need to be so tense." she simply stated before lifting the plastic cup in her hand, sipping from the straw while keeping her eyes on him. As she said it, Fumikage suddenly became rather self conscious of his own body, doing his best to make sure his muscles were now relaxed. He cursed inwardly, wondering just what was making him feel even a bit tense. Maybe her catching him staring, and himself not being aware of his own staring.

A harsh tone nearby was something to distract him, the bird-headed boy turning his head to glance at three individuals a couple tables away from them. Two sat on one side, with another leaning across it while speaking to one of the others. He then noticed how the one being spoken too had the man next to him leaning into him, almost like he was trying to pin the man in. Fumikage narrowed his eyes now as he became more interested. All three of them seemed to be somewhat tense as well, the man being spoken to trying to play off as calm as they continued to eat whatever it was they had ordered.

"Fumikage?" Tsuyu spoke up, the frog girl cocking her head to the side as she then followed his gaze to the group. Immediately she also recognized the intense aura coming from the three. The two on the one side of the table didn't have anything that made them particularly standout, other than the one being grilled hunching over as if being pressed by the weight of the of the other two imposing on him. None of them were facing the two teens directly, fortunately, so it meant that they wouldn't notice the two eavesdroppers without actually attempting to spot them.

The one speaking stood out a bit more, as Tsuyu could see how his skin had a darkish, almost olive tint to it and seemed fairly clammy. The man's hair was a scraggly mess of dark locks, the color of which neither could discern at the moment. Given how quiet he spoke, the two students couldn't exactly make out what was being said currently, but it was clear that it was not a friendly conversation.

Finally, the darker skinned one seemed to lose his patience, hitting his fist on the table hard enough to make the other man jump, but soft enough that it didn't draw any attention. His words grew louder as his tolerance seemed to diminish. "Listen, last time I say it. You can either stick to whatever menial job you have under your current boss, or willingly tag along with us into employment with our boss." He gave the other man a smile, revealing a set of teeth to match the sickly appearance of his skin. "Can guarantee ya, far better opportunities than where yer at now."

The other one spoke up just as firmly, "You can fuck off at this point, how's that for an offer? Now then, we're done, I'm leaving." with that, the one who had been under their pressure gave the one next to him a hard enough shove to create some space, but not knock him over. He then stood up, stopping then to turn and talk once more to the other there. "And best be careful about threats around here. Enough heroes here that you make a fucking move, they'll come crashing down on you real hardcore." He scoffed a bit before turning his back and starting to walk off. "Maybe if you're lucky, you'll get to see All Might. With him in town, you can never know when he's gonna pounce on you if you misbehave." He lifted his hand, giving the two men the finger before placing his hands in his pockets as he began to walk off.

Fumikage turned to look at Tsuyu, who had returned the look as well. "Should we... do something?" he asked her, whispering so as not to draw any attention to themselves.

She looked back at the man walking off before glancing at the two men still sitting at the table. After a moment, she then whispered back. "I don't think we should make things worse than they are. They seemed to have backed off."

"Who'in the hell is All Might?" the two U.A. students turned and looked back to the two men sitting there, the one who had been sitting next to the interrogated having asked the question to the sickly looking man. Getting a look at him more, they knew that he stood out far less than the sickly looking individual. The most noticeable thing they could see at the moment was a scar that started at the left corner of his lip, then trailed down to his chin then along it before stopping. The parts of his face not scarred were covered by a thin, reddish beard, the hair atop his head matching it in length and color.

The olive skinned man was drumming his fingers on the table, watching the other leave. "Gonna guess a big hero." he said, his leg now bobbing up and down as he watched. Finally, he stood up briskly, knocking his chair back. ""Think Doc mentioned him or something." Finally, the man's eyes turned to look at the two students, the three of them locking eyes for a moment before the man spoke up harshly. "Something I can help you with or just mesmerized by my looks?!" he asked harshly, causing the two students to recoil slightly.

Tsuyu spoke up first, doing her best to defuse the situation for whatever it was. "No, no. Apologies sir, kero." She said while bowing her head some before turning to look away. Fumikage was a bit slower to look away, noticing the man blink in confusion, eyeing Tsuyu after she had croaked.

"The fuck..?" the man standing said before the one who had been sitting with him suddenly reached out and roughly grabbed his arm. "What?!" he said rather loudly while turning to look.

"Cool your damn jets. Cripes, for as cold blooded as your suppose to be you get really heated." the man said, letting go of the other's arm when it was roughly pulled from his hand.

"Whatever." He looked once more at Tsuyu and Fumikage, the latter meeting his eyes before looking away as Tsuyu had. He sighed in relief, quietly, when the angrier of the two began heading in the direction the one they had been harassing had gone.

With a bow of his head, the other one stood up while addressing the two teenagers. "Sorry about him. He can be really short fused sometimes."

Tsuyu turned back to look at the calmer individual, "It's ok, kero. We know what it is like to deal with someone who has a short fuse." Fumikage let out an amused scoff at that.

"That's putting it mildly." he muttered to himself.

The man chuckled softly as he began to follow the other, "There always seems to be someone like that in everyone's lives. Have a good afternoon." he said before turning to follow the other. Fumikage watched him leave as Tsuyu returned to her food, before he then spoke to her once again.

"Think it'd be best to at least let somebody know? Somebody who can handle it do? Nothing good is going to come out of that." Tsuyu looked in the direction the others had walked before back to her classmate.

"Yeah, it is probably best that we do so." Nodding his head to her, they both stood up, picking up their trays of food before moving to dump their trash. They were interrupted by shouts in the direction the men had travelled, both heroes-in-training looking towards the source. With a quick glance to one another, they then began making their way towards the location of the disturbance. While they may not be allowed to interfere directly, if something was going on they could at least keep people out of the way if whatever was occuring got bad enough.

It didn't take them long to reach the trouble, watching the man who had been being harassed was being shoved up against the railing by the clammier of the other two. People had backed away to give them space, choosing to avoid getting caught in the crossfire while they waited for a hero or authorities to show up to break up the fight. The third one was also standing back a bit, letting the other two scuffle while seeming to keep an eye out for any other threats. The two students pushed themselves to the front of the crowd, again just making sure no one else got injured by the other two.

"You slimey piece of shit!" shouted the first of them, struggling for a few moments before he was able to free up an arm to grip the torso of the clammy individual. They watched as his arm then elongated, his quirk being used to create space between them before he suddenly lifted the attacker up and over him. Out of reflex, the two students began moving to catch the man who was being thrown over the railing, less he plummet the three stories to the concreate below. They stopped though when the falling man opened his mouth, a long tounge suddenly shooting out to wrap itself around the throat of the other one.

"Fuckin'ell Croaker!" The one who had been standing back seemed to want to move forwards, but stopped himself as he went back to watching for anyone who might try to get in the way. With his tongue constricting the elongating man's throat, Croaker used the anchor of the man trying to not be pulled over the ledge to then swing down and latch on the side of the floor they had started their fight on. Fumikage took a moment to glance at Tsuyu, who actually seemed for once to show a sense of surprise.

"Not a relative, I'm assuming?" Fumikage asked, Tsuyu just shaking her head as Croaker pulled himself up the railing high enough to then grab the shoulders of the elongating man, who was still struggling to pry the slimy muscle that was coiled around his neck off. Planting his feet then on the railing edge, Croaker leaned backwards while pulling with both his tongue and his grip on the man's shoulder, lifting him up over the railing in a small arc. At the beginning decent of the arc's apex, Croaker retracted his tongue as he let go of the other man's shoulders. People, including Tsuyu and Fumikage, ran up to the railing to watch the man get thrown towards the ground. He was unfortunate to slam stomach first onto the first floor railing before bouncing off with a heavy crack and thud, to then fall all the way to the ground floor. The elongated man landed flat on his back, letting out an awful and pained cough before screaming in pain, gripping both sides of his torso as he rolled their in pain.

Croaker on the other hand had moved with the action entirely until he was now clinging to the outside of the third floor overhang, upside down as he stared down at the man writhing in pain on the ground below. He then let his feet detach from the surface he was on, swinging himself upright to then let go with his hands and lands on the second floor railing before doing a small hop backwards to descend down to the ground floor. He landed in a crouch, grunting with the impact before standing himself up straighter. The elongated man's limbs had returned to their normal length, but he was still moaning in pain, gripping his injured torso. Painful coughs followed his movements, turning himself to then look to the approaching Croaker, "Fucking...piece of...shit!" he managed to curse at Croaker between the difficult breaths.

Up on the third floor, the crowd watched as the man's arm elongated once more as he attempted to lash out at the thug walking towards him. In one fluid motion, Croaker jumped, flipping over the swing while performing a small corkscrew to then come crashing down, knee first, right onto the man's sternum. The injured man's attempt to cry out in pain was quickly stopped by a fist striking straight to the windpipe, a ragged cough and wheezing coming from the man's mouth rather than a cry of pain. Croaker's fist came up once more for a third strike, but from the crowd on the ground floor emerged an police officer, who had quickly drawn and fired a taser into the back of the toadish attacker.

Croaker's body twitched from the mass amount of voltage shooting through his body, back muscles being the first to contract involuntarily and force the man to bend backwards in a stiff and painful manner. He fell off his victim, who was now free to roll on the ground in pain while struggling to breath through his collapsed airway.

Croaker managed to force his body to turn towards the officer, his face twisted in pain as well before he attempted to open his mouth to lash out at the officer. However, just as his tongue began to emerge, a second officer appeared form the crowd to fire his own taser straight into Croaker's chest. With the muscles on opposite sides of his torso now trying to contract in opposite directions, Croaker could only fall to the ground, body locked up with his pained expression remaining while his tongue thrashed as from the jolts coursing through his body.

Fumikage let out the breath he only just realized he'd been holding, relieved to see the assault end. His relaxed demeanor vanished just as fast as it had returned when his eyes settled once more on the elongated man, whose pained movements were slowly stopping. A third officer was kneeling next to the man, hand up on his radio as he was calling for some paramedics while the other two officers worked to restrain Croaker. With the electrical assault on his body over, he gave a weak resistance towards the officers, his tongue still just hanging limply from his mouth.

"Shit. You fucking idiot..." Tsuyu turned her head to the source of the partly whispered expletive, eyes settling on the man who had been accompanying Croaker. Fumikage's attention was brought over when he was directed to the other man by the froggy heroine-in-training. The man quickly turned and began moving his way through the crowd, the UA students looking at one another for only a moment before heading after him to keep track of him, and if possible detain him as well; or at least preoccupy him so the police could do so.

Unfortunately, the crowd that had gathered to see the mess below hindered their progress, and by the time they emerged from the mass of people, the other man was already gone from sight. "Curses.." muttered Fumikage, looking around once more before looking at Tsuyu. "Can you see him?"

"No, kero." Tusyu shook her head before looking at Fumikage. "We should head back to the meeting place with the others. I think this trip may be ending sooner than we had planned.

"Agreed." was the response before they began to make their way towards the central plaza. It was the determined meeting location for all the classmates who had joined the trip.

"Not what I was expecting to happen today. Especially at the mall of all places." Tsuyu spoke as the two of them descended the stairs.

"Seems we as a class are truly cursed to run into trouble no matter where go." the bird-headed boy said in response. It was partly a joke, but there was some truth to the matter. Class 1-A seemed to find itself being confronted with all sorts of bad scenarios; scenarios that, as students, they really weren't completely ready for. The Villain attack as USJ, Tsuyu's own fight with smugglers during her internship, and especially Izuku's, Iida's, and Shoto's battle with The Hero Killer. At this point, Fumikage could only wonder what was going to hit them next.

* * *

"Tsuyu, I'm starting to think maybe you are one of the primary curse bearers in this class!" Mina exclaimed as she leaned forward in her seat on the bus, looking towards the other girl. All of the students who had gone on the trip were now sitting on the bus, heading back to the station to then head on to their own homes from their.

"I-I think that's a little to far-fetched of a thought, Mina!" Izuku responded, watching and recoiling as the pink-skinned lady turn to look at him, continuing with her train of thought.

"Maybe you're right, or maybe you both are the cursed ones, Midoriya." Mina responded with a grin, causing Izuku to blink and hold up his hands.

"W-wait, what?!"

"Well yeah! Sure all of us were at the USJ when we got attacked, but she actually got into a fight during her internship, and you happened to confront the Hero Killer himself! I think it fits perfectly." she said.

"I agree with Midoriya, such a concept is foolish to think about." Iida remarked. Waving a hand about, he continued. "By that logic, then Todoroki and I should both fall under the qualification."

"Maybe you do." Mina simply responded with a grin, drawing a sigh from Izuku and Iida both.

"Hey, curse or not, at least this time none of us were in any actual danger." Uraraka chimed in, some of the others nodding their heads in agreement.

"Absolutely," Momo spoke from her place on a raised seat near where the others sat. "Though still, it must not have been easy to watch."

Fumikage just sat silently, arms crossed with his head lowered as he listened. Tsuyu spoke up for the two of them though. "I can definetly say that it wasn't enjoyable, kero."

"Tsuyu, didn't you say that guy had a quirk similar to yours?" Uraraka said, looking over to her, as did the others. Tsuyu went silent for a moment, pondering over the question.

"I mean, it could be some distant relative or something." Ejiro said from his seat next to Mina. "I'm sure I probably have relatives that I'm not aware of."

Izuku spoke up afterwards, "Something so similar though in a distant relative?"

"I'm just saying! The way you described him, honestly seems like his quirk manifested somewhat differently! Tsuyu doesn't look anywhere near as bad as that guy was described, afterall." he said the last bit in an attempt to ease the tension a little bit.

"My father was an only child." Tsuyu said, looking at Kirishima. "Nobody on my mother's side has such an apperance. If a distant relative, then it must be quite distant, kero."

"We could always let Aizawa-sensei know, maybe he could figure out who he was. With the attitude you described, this can't be the first time he's gotten in trouble." Uraraka said, shifting slightly in her seat. "Plus, with a name like 'Croaker', I'm certain he'd be even easier to find."

Nodding his head in agreement, Izuku then looked to Tsuyu, "We can always go with you if you are uncomfortable with asking on your own." he offered to her, Uraraka nodding her head as well with a smile. If she was bothered, Tsuyu's neutral expression gave no implication to that idea.

"Thank you, kero."

"Alright, enough with that gloomy stuff!" Mina piped up, "Anybody got exciting plans for tomorrow?"

"Nope, parents are out of town so have to take care of my brother and sister." Tsuyu said.

"Working on a sunday, really?" Mina asked, only receiving a nod in response.

"Opposite case for me, actually!" Ochako said. "My parents are in town again on another vacation. So I get to hang out with them tomorow." her smile was mirrored by Izuku.

"That's great, Uraraka!" he said to her. "Wish I had something exciting to do, but just going to be another quiet sunday for me."

"Just more brooding for you, Tokoyami?" Ejiro said with a small grin. The dreary teen lifted his head up, blinking as he had zoned out during the whole conversation. Once he was back to reality, he closed his eyes again with a slight frown.

"Perfectly content settling my mind in the calm that is darkness." he said.

The other teens just stared at him, Mina breaking their silence. "Geez, so dramatic.." Fumikage only scoffed in reply. "Momo?!" Mina continued, looking to the vice president of their class. Caught off guard by the sudden attention, Momo took a moment before responding to the question.

"N-no. Nothing beyond my usual daily routine. Have to keep myself in tip-top shape, even on days off from school." she said proudly, Mina pouting.

"Meh..." was the pink lady's response to the idea of not taking advantage of the weekend. Fumikage by this point had tuned out their conversation, having opened his eyes to watch the passing buildings. While he'd admit that it could be amusing to listen to his classmates chatter, he was still someone who preferred his quiet time. He'd had enough excitment for his taste today, now he wanted to just relax.

"What do you think, Tokoyami?" He blinked, looking to Tsuyu sitting next to him, her eye set on him as she waited for his response. He just stared at her, caught off guard and unsure of what to say at first, turning his head away to hide his shocked expression by pretending to look outside.

"About what, Asui?" he asked.

"Tsuyu, and what do you think of this whole curse thing and today?" she said back, having not looked away from him yet.

He frowned slightly, giving a moment to think of his response. "If we are cursed, we are cursed and we'll just have to deal with it, I guess. Not much to be done other than face it if fate decided to give us such daunting trials." He then looked to her. ""As for today, well... I agree with the idea that it is nice none of us were hurt." he paused, looking down for a moment before sighing and closing his eyes. "But to stand by and do nothing was tough. I know using our quirks would have landed us in trouble, but still made me feel...uncomfortable."

"Yeah. I know how you feel. It was also..." she paused for just a moment, but it was such a rare occurence that Fumikage noticed it right away, "seeing someone with a quirk like mine harm someone so badly. I think I'd rather spit up handcuffs again than watch that." Her acknowledging of their match against Ectoplasm and the unsavory tactic she used drew an amused scoff from Fumikage.

"I can imagine it was awful to watch that. For what it is worth, I'm sorry you had to witness that." he said, Tsuyu giving him a small smile.

"Thank you, kero." He returned the smile, about to respond when a massive bang near the front of the bus startled all of them. They'd been around Bakugo enough to recognize the sound of an explosion, but any chance to figure out what had happened though was squandered by the bus jerking to the side as control over the large, moving vehicle was lost as one of its tires was obliterated.

"Tsuyu, hold on! Dark Shadow!" Fumikage shouted out, wrapping his arms around the frog girl as Dark Shadow emerged to quickly grab hold of them in time for the bus to slam into something, causing the vehicle to fish tail and then quickly roll over onto its side. The two of them fell from where they had been sitting, Dark Shadow absorbing most of the blow to cushion them as they fell.

The screech of the metal grinding across the pavement felt like it was piercing their ears for an eternity, even though it only lasted a few seconds before coming to a stop. The two's final movements were to fall from the seats they had landed on to then fall onto the pavement through the now paneless window, the two of them coming to rest on the glass covered asphalt. With their uncontrolled motions having ceased, Dark Shadow finally moved off of Tsuyu and Fumikage, allowing the two of them to separate and figure out what had just happened. The first thing they noticed was a groan near them, and quickly they moved to a currently prone Deku.

"Midoriya!" Tsuyu exclaimed, looking him over as the green haired teenager coughed and held onto his torso.

"I'm...fine. Nothing serious, despite having you fall on me..the others...?!" he asked, opening an eye to look at them both, the boy happy to see at least they had escaped unscathed. As much as Tsuyu wanted to see how badly he was hurt, she also knew that out of all of them, Izuku probably had the greatest tolerance for injuries given his time at UA high.

The sound of some glass crinkling from movement caused Fumikage to look up to see Uraraka and Iida pushing themselves up as well. It seemed with them having already been sitting on the side that hit the ground, they escaped major injuries, though Uraraka was pressing her hand to a bleeding cut on the side of her head. "Uraraka! Iida! You alright?!" Fumikage called to them.

Iida stood up first, looking to the bird boy. "Yes, Tokoyami." he too then turned to look at Uraraka, who didn't say anything but nodded her head to indicate she was mostly alright. "Your head!" Iida moved to her to check, regardless of how she may have seemed.

"I-It's fine Iida. Just a superficial cut." she said, looking to him while keeping her hand over the wound. Her attention was drawn to a moan above her position, all three of them turning their heads to see Mina who was out cold and looking to have suffered a nasty hit from the tipping of the bus. "Mina!" Uraraka quickly moved over to her, Iida following along as Fumikage went to check on the others.

He shouldn't have been surprised to find Kirishima moving about and checking on other passengers, clearly having suffered no injuries himself. Given his hardening quirk, Fumikage easily guessed that the red-head had triggered it the moment they heard the blast. Continuing his search, his eyes settled on Tsuyu who was tending to a dazed and injured Momo, who had also been flung in similar fashion to Mina. He moved over to them, quickly seeing the broken limb that was Momo's arm. While he grimaced at the sight of the injury, Tsuyu maintained a calm expression as she worked to make sure their were no other serious injuries that needed tending. "Tokoyami, help the others, I can take care of Momo."

"Got it." Fumikage responded with a nod of his head, moving to help Kirishima tend to the other injured passengers. His movements jerked to a stop when a burst of gunfire roared from above them. Instinctively, Dark Shadow emerged to shield people while Fumikage attempted to do the same, bracing himself for the pain he was expecting to feel. Further bursts of automatic fire with no pain to follow signaled to the Jet-Black Hero that whoever was shooting was not aiming at them. He followed the sound towards its source, but from his vantage point, he couldn't see the culprit. Between the pauses in gunfire, he could hear shouting from people outside the bus, some in terror, but others clearly were screams of pain. Fumikage turned his head to look at his other classmates to see who was still up and able, but everyone was either injured, or helping the injured. His eyes settled on Iida, who he knew had a quirk less suited for extracting people from the wreckage. "Iida!" he shouted, drawing the attention of the class president. "Outside! Others are under attack!"

Iida nodded his head, looking up to the windows above them before he quickly began to climb his way towards them. He looked back down towards the others before fully climbing out, "Keep them safe class 1-A!" he shouted, getting nods of affirmation from those who could and a croak from Tsuyu, who was still tending to Momo. Fumikage met Iida atop the side of the bus, the two of them looking around to see what was happening. Down the street where they had come from, they could see cars that had come to a quick stop to avoiding hitting the crashed bus, though some hadn't been fast enough or were too close to brake in time and had smashed up against one another. The rest of the traffic had come to a stop, though they could see some cars that had the room to escape doing so.

Their eyes were drawn to three police vehicles that were near one another. The front most car was riddled with bulletholes, and the two teens easily saw the bloodstains and corpses of the officers within the vehicle. It seemed they had had no chance to react to the attack, unlike the other officers around the area. Two other downed officers caught their attention, one looking like they had just stepped from the car only to be shot, and another seemed to have been running for cover when he had been cut down. Three officers seemed to be firing back at the enemy, one officer tending to the injuries of a fifth, while a sixth one was ducked behind a building, tending to an injury of their own.

The crack of a gun above the two was followed by the head of one of the officers jerking back, blood spraying out behind him as he instantly collapsed. The other two had ducked down in response, a bullet striking the car that they were hiding behind. Fumikage turned his head to look for the source of the gunfire, but his world instead turned to a blur as he was suddenly tackled by Iida who shouted a warning during the process. Fumikage let out a pained cough when he fell behind the bus, landing on the asphalt with the new Ingenium lying on top of him. He groaned as Iida moved off of him, grabbing the collar of his shirt and dragging him behind a car. Fumikage's initial irritation was quickly silenced by the sound of bullets striking the car they were currently hiding behind.

"Sorry, Tokoyami." Iida said before taking a chance to peer over the car when he heard the gunfire erupt once more, followed by another officer being ravaged by the projectiles. Fumikage peeked over as well, still a bit disorientated to the chaos at hand. "Up there." Iida pointed, Tsukuyomi following the direction to the top of a building that overlooked the entire road. There he finally saw the origin of the violence, or at least could partly make out who it was. For now, all he could really tell was that the figure was clad entirely in black, brown leather straps visible on his torso, where ammunition could be seen, alongside a few things Fumikage didn't recognize. The part that drew his attention though was the rifle the person wielded, firing down at the pinned officers. In a quick movement though, the students were forced to duck back down when the person turned their weapon to fire on the two of them .

The car shook slightly from the impact of the bullets, Tokoyami ducking his head further when a window above his head was shattered, covering him with glass which he was quick to shake off. "Iida, you think you could reach him fast enough?"

Iida risked another peek over the car before ducking back down, "I could easily reach the building, but he's up on the roof. Three stories up. I'm not sure if I could get up there in time before stalling out." their attention was drawn to the sound of approaching sirens, several more police cars making their way down the road towards them from both ends of the street. "More police, and I'm sure there are plenty of pros making their way here right now. I think it's best that we hold on, or at least get back to the bus to warn and help the others." He only got a nod from Fumikage, who peeked up over the car once more. The individual was currently watching the police come from the other side of the bus.

"Now!" The Jet-Black Hero shouted, quickly jumping over the car and making a mad dash towards the bus, Iida right behind him. Fortunately the distance was small, as the shooter apparently didn't take the opportunity to fire at either of them as they had moved. Pressed against the back of the bus, they listened to a single shot be fired, followed by one of the approaching cop cars swerving as the driver was struck. The out of control vehicle turned sharply, slamming into a light post and then being rammed into by another cruiser that could not slow in time. Fumikage grimaced as he watched more gunfire strike the cruisers that had crashed, followed by the ones skidding to a stop behind them. "Iida, maybe we should try to draw the enemy's fire?" he asked looking to the other teen.

Iida looked at Tokoyami for a moment before towards the police that had been forced to stop away from the bus due to the blockade of wrecked vehicles. He had a deep frown set on his face, "We've already been careless in using our quirks, Tokoyami. If we try to fight the attacker, then we are only going to get into serious trouble, at least until a pro arrives."

"Iida! To hell with those rules right now, people are being shot!" Fumikage exclaimed, though his eyes widened due to the look that Iida gave him. It wasn't the usual serious look the president could get during these moments or when defending a rule. No, he could see just how much the idea was tearing at Iida as well.

"I hate it to, Fumikage, I really do. But we aren't going to become licensed heroes if we try to help now..." he flinched at the sight of another officer being struck down in the distance, grinding his teeth at their inability to act. "Let's just keep those in the bus safe, alright?" he looked to the bird-faced teen, whose surprised look turned to one of resignition, knowing that what Iida was saying was correct.

"Dammit..." During a pause in the gunfire, the two of them heard the sound of something heavy landing on the top of the bus. Glancing to each other for a second, they then moved to look up over the bus as best as they could. In front of them stood the gunman, who had dropped down onto the top of the bus, having left a decent dent where he had landed. The attacker had yet to look towards them, instead turning to aim his rifle towards the police that had been a part of the second wave of officers. Their eyes were drawn to the long cylindrical device that hung under the barrel of the rifle that had bright blue lines running along the sides, a trigger on it being pulled by the gunman before a flash of blue pulsed from the front of the tube. A thin blue projectile hissed through the air before slamming into one of the police cars, promptly detonating it in a blue and orange fire ball, the flames consuming some officers while others were either caught by shrapnel, crushed by falling debris, or simply knocked down from the concussive force.

The two students could only stare in shock at the sight, the gunman watching the results of the explosive before looking around. Which was unfortunate for Tokoyami, once recovered from his shock, he couldn't sit around anymore and had moved to attack the gunman. He had sorely underestimated the reflexes of the man, as the moment Tokoyami came up over the bus and lashed out with Dark Shadow, the man was diving to the side, easily avoiding the animated shadow and rolling off the bus to then land on his feet. Tokoyami moved to try and strike at the him with Dark Shadow once more, but a searing pain in his shoulder, alongside a heavy impact that knocked him off his feet and consequently off the bus, stopped the attack. Fumikage cried out in pain, gripping his shoulder where he had been shot. He could also feel Dark Shadow get fiercely riled up, but with the sun shining brightly there was no chance of it rampaging.

"Tokoyami!" Iida quickly grabbed the injured teen, pulling him out of sight of the gunman as a bullet skimmed by his head, disturbing his hair with the small sonic-boom it generated. Once in cover, Iida immediately began to check the wound, which Fumikage was still covering. He flinched reflexively when more gunfire followed, but it was clear that they were not the current target.

Another voice, this one female, drew Iida and Fumikage's attention, watching as Tsuyu moved near them. "Fumikage! Are you ok?!" she asked, a slight hint of worry slipping through her usually stoic apperance.

With a grimace and hiss of pain, Fumikage nodded his head, "Yeah, hurts, but nothing life threatening." he said to her, Tsuyu taking Iida's spot to tend to the wound while the class president moved to keep an eye on the gunman.

Tsuyu gave the wound a quick glance over, then reached to one of the sleeves of her shirt as she quickly began to tear it free. As she did so, Fumikage could see that the other sleeve of her shirt was missing, and he figured out why as she first shifted his jacket off the arm to have enough room to then wrap it around his wound. The tightening of the makeshift bandage drew a sharp hiss of pain from The Jet-Black Hero, but he thanked Tsuyu regardless as, fixing his jacket before the two began to move to follow Iida, who had moved over to a car to observe the gunman.

The man was decked out in a full black outfit, with plates of some unknown material integrated into it to form armor over much of his body. They could also better see the leather straps on his torso that were holding unknown items, the pistol and magazines being the only thing any of the students could recognize on them. On his thighs, they could see a number of sheaths for many small, thin, and flat daggers. On each shoulder blade, they could see the sheaths to two, foot-long blades, the handles of which stuck up over the man's shoulders. Even his head was hidden by a mask of similar design, and with a quick turn of his head they were able to see a large white plate that covered the entire lower half of his face and came up over his nose, with several portholes and two filters sticking out from the sides. What caught their eyes though was the glint of red from the lenses over his eyes, obscuring any visage of the man behind the mask; they only saw the expressionless mask of a killer at work.

The man was walking calmly towards the cars that had been there since the start of the fire fight, raising his rifle to fire at any police that were foolish to expose themselves and cutting them down with a single pull of the trigger. A new sound though caught their attention, the gunman's as well as they heard something moving rapidly through the air. A smile appeared on Iida's and Tsuyu's face as they saw the Pro-Hero, Jet Stream, come swooping by them. The armored plates on the heroes suit gleamed as he moved, and the bright mechanical wings flapped once to speed up his attack. Iida in particular recognized him, mostly because the man had a quirk similar to the Tenya family, except in this case it was the wings that Jet-Stream used to fly.

The gunman quickly rolled out of the way of a swooping pass from Jet-Stream, who kept with the flight path to then move out of sight of the gunman. The villain kept his rifle raised up, still making his way towards the police cars while watching for Jet-Stream to show. He stopped moving, quickly jerking the gun around to aim at the flying hero coming towards him, only to realize that there was a car between him and the pro who slammed into it to send it skidding across the ground towards the gunman. A slight whir of machines from the man was followed by him leaping high enough to vault over the car, only to be slammed into by Jet-Stream who had not ceased moving after hitting the car.

A cheer came from two of the students behind the car, as well as from the bus as others were finally moving out of it, as the gunman was knocked to the ground. His rifle fell out of his grip as he rolled across the asphalt, it coming to a stop near the police cars he had been heading towards. They watched as Jet-Stream made a sharp turn to continue his attack, making a beeline towards the villain who was finally coming to a stop after rolling a few more feet. To their horror though, they watched as the gunman rolled back up onto his knees, still skidding back slightly due to the momentum as he drew the pistol from his vest in the same motion, bringing it up and firing a single shot at the approaching Jet-Stream. He then fell to the side to get out of the way as the flying hero then slammed head on into the car that had been behind the gunman, though this time it was not part of an attack. After a few feet of movement, they watched as Jet-Stream fell to the ground, no longer moving with blood pooling underneath him.

With that hero out of the way, the gunman took a moment to fire another shot at an officer who tried to attack him, striking down the woman with only a single shot before the gunman began to jog towards the police cruiser he'd been moving towards. "W-Who is he...?" asked a female, the three UA students turning to see Uraraka moving towards them, supporting Izuku while Kirishima came up behind with Mina and Momo over his shoulders. They knelt behind the car, staring at the dead hero in shock.

"I don't know." Izuku said, "But, that was Jet-Stream, The Supersonic Hero." They all looked to Izuku for a moment before back at the gunman who had arrived at the car, picking up his rifle with his left hand, slinging it over his neck before prying open one of the back doors. Reaching inside, they watched as Croaker was yanked out, falling to the ground while swearing up a storm. Another officer attempted to shoot the gunman, who simply shifted their body so that the bullet missed them while also raising his pistol to shoot down the officer. Holstering the firearm, he then reached to a pocket on his belt, removing some kind of cylindrical device none of them could identify.

The device was dropped at Croaker's feet, who looked up towards the gunman while picking up the object. They could see the toadish man talking to the other villain, before nodding his head and quickly sprinting away from the scene and towards an empty alleyway. Seeing this, Iida and Tsuyu both moved to try and intercept the man before he could run away, but the window to the car they were hiding behind exploding out towards them forced both back down, Tsuyu gripping the side of her face where a piece of glass had sliced it. Another bullet tore through the car door, forcing Tsuyu to move back and press against the other students while Iida shifted the opposite way.

"Let's get this guy!" Shouted Kirishima, who hardened the flesh of his arms and hands, looking to Iida. The class president went to say something, but a bullet emerging from the bumper of the car and grazing his shin, leaving a small cut shut him up instantly. "We either attack and get shot by him or hide and get shot by him at this point!"

Izuku looked at Iida, "Iida, he's right!" he flinched when another bullet hole formed in the door, right behind his head.

Fumikage didn't wait for permission, Dark Shadow snaking its way underneath the car and smashing another vehicle so that it flew towards the gunman. The one thing Fumikage loved about Dark Shadow was that he didn't always have to see the target to attack with his quirk, only Dark Shadow needed to see them. The several ton hunk of metal flying straight at him forced the gunman to dodge to the side, moving out of sight behind another car as Iida and Kirishima quickly began to clear the distance towards where he had ducked. "Tsuyu, help them!" Fumikage shouted, looking at the Frog Girl who hesitated for a moment.

She was going to protest, but even she could see that the injured were stable and would be much safer if the gunman was forced to focus on others. Nodding her head, she hopped up over the car, heading towards the gunman's position while Kirishima and Iida attacked from two different flanks. Iida ducked behind a car for cover when the gunman rose up, firing a shot at him before turning and firing at Kirishima. The round was less effective against Red Riot, who hared his upper body and head to absorb the bullet, even though he grunted slightly from just the impact of the round. Another car was sent flying towards the gunman's position as Dark Shadow slammed another vehicle at him.

The villain was quick to move behind another vehicle, avoiding the flying one and moving out of sight. The three heroes-in-training used the moment to rush his position, though it was only Tsuyu who caught sight of the sphere that came rolling out from under the car and directly towards her. "Watch out!" she shouted, quickly diving away as the sphere then exploded. The concussive blast slammed into Froppy, knocking her across the asphalt while it forced Iida to duck. Kirishima was knocked off his feet and sent flying back by the blast, slamming into a car; saved again by the fortune of having the hardening quirk. "Kero.." Tsuyu mumbled out, trying to push herself up on a shaky arm before falling to grip said arm, which had a nasty gash across it from where she'd scrapped across the pavement.

She looked up to see what had happened to the others, struggling to get a decent breath of air with the dust that had settled over the area. Her eyes widened as she saw the silhouette of the gunman walking towards her through the cloud, Tsuyu finding herself being stared down by blank, red lenses of the attacker. She told herself to move as she saw the rifle being brought up, the Froggy Heroine staring straight down the barrel of the weapon, but once more pressing off her injured arm had her falling right back down. A cloth that came from the side, wrapping around the barrel of the weapon and yanking its aim off the girl, saved her as the bullet flew by and harmlessly struck a nearby wall, spraying masonry across the ground. The sharp pull on the weapon had it being ripped from the grip of the gunman, who was turning and drawing his pistol to fire on whoever had now shown up.

Tsuyu let out a shaky breath as she saw their homeroom teacher, having once again saved her life, quickly dash behind some cover as the gunman fired his pistol at the pro-hero. He then moved his aim to fire on another approaching hero, who was too slow to avoid the bullet as it struck them right between the eyes, their body going limp imediately. Another hero was dashing in to assault the gunman blocking the shot that was meant for their head with one of the dual blades they wielded.

The hero, Nightshade, began attacking the enemy rapidly, who was forced on the defensive as they shifted to dodge the barrage of attacks, even drawing one of the knives on his back to assist in blocks and parries. Even in such close range, the villain attempted shots on the hero, who in turn avoided the bullets. A dodged attack from the hero saw the gunman quickly raising the pistol to put a bullet through Nightshade's head, but again his aim was disrupted as Eraserhead dashed into the fight, palming the pistol to the side so that the bullet missed it's mark entirely. Aizawa followed up the hit by then grabbing hold of the firearm and quickly striking at the gunman's hand, the force of the blow dislodging the handgun from the villain's grip, where it was then tossed away from their fight.

The two heroes began pushing back the gunman, who had by this point switched to his knives and seemed to be holding his own, or at least enough to avoid being struck down or binded.

During this time, Fumikage, had gone to check on Tsuyu, Izuku going for Iida while Uraraka kept watch over the still unconscious Mina and dazed Momo. "Tsuyu!" Fumikage knelt down next to her, wincing slightly when he agitated his injured shoulder. He looked to her arm, grimacing at the sight of the cut that was down the length of it. It was his turn now to ruin some of his clothes, pulling off the jacket he had been wearing to hand over to her.

"Thanks, kero.." Tsuyu muttered, helping to tie the makeshift bandage around her arm since both of them were limited to one arm at the moment.

"You going to be ok?" he asked her, finishing up and drawing the bandage tight around the wound, only causing Froppy to wince slightly despite how much Fumikage imagined it hurt.

"No worse than you, I think." She said, looking at him. Fumikage shook his head, though he had trouble hiding the small smile he had from the relief that she wasn't badly hurt. He offered her his good hand, helping to pull her up before he took a chance to look at where Kirishima had landed. The stiff skinned teen was up on his feet, making his way back to the others. With the pro heroes here now, they finally gave themselves a chance to catch their breath. They all joined back up where Mina and Momo lay, turning their attention back to the fight currently going on.

At the moment, they could see that the villain was being pressed backwards under the assault of the two heroes, throwing very few of his own attacks as he was forced to defend against Nightshade and Aizawa. As Nightshade's strike was once again blocked, Aizawa used the chance to quickly catch and bind the blocking limb with his scarf, pulling roughly on the limb to force the villain off balance. Instead, he moved with the tug, dropping to a knee and pivoting on the padded joint to move behind Aizawa, who was forced to turn with him less he be pulled off balance by the motion as well. This placed Aizawa between gunman and the sword wielding hero, giving the villain one person to focus on at the moment. Aizawa was forced to lean back to dodge an upwards slash, creating enough space for the attacker to then bring his knife down to cut himself free of the scarf binding his arm. He then used the momentum of the downward slash to spin around and deliver a sidekick into Eraserhead, knocking the hero down to his back.

Nightshade quickly moved in to prevent the villain from capitalizing any further, slashing and in turn blocking return strikes from him. Nightshade, however, had not been ready for the villain to toss a knife up into the air to free a hand to grab the binding that remained on his arm and then move to intercept one of the hero's swinging limbs. Quickly binding it, the villain then ducked his torso low to avoid an elbow strike, moving back up and drawing the ensnared arm across the pro hero's torso. In doing so he forced the man's arms to cross, trapping the free arm between Nightshade's own chest and the bound limb. Nightshade though was clever enough to step towards the trapped arm, rotating his body so that he was able to free his non-snared arm, bring it up over the villain and then around to thrust towards the man's stomach.

The villain twisted his torso so that the thrusting blade just missed impaling him. He then pushed the arm away from his body while also releasing the bindings, forcing Nightshade to spin to avoid being tied up again. As the hero came around, attempting to slash at the villain during the recovery, his attack was evaded as the villain dropped to a knee again, letting the blow go over his head before thrusting his own dagger upwards and straight into the groin of the pro-hero. With a cry of pain, Nightshade made a wild attempt to strike down at the villain and drive him back, but again the villain spun on his knee outside of Nightshade's legs, withdrawing his knife, and bringing him up and behind the pro-hero where he drove the dagger right into the hero's back. Nightshade gasped, grunting when the villain drove the blade deep enough to pierce into the hero's heart.

All of this had happened so fast, that by the time Aizawa had gotten back to his feet, the blade had already be rammed into Nightshade. Eraserhead only frowned, hiding any other signs that he was enraged to see another of his fellow pros be taken down, before moving forwards once more to engage the villain. Nearby, the students, who had been excited and relieved to see their teacher and other heroes arrive, felt a cold chill moving over them. They didn't know what to think, say, or do, having watched the man carve his way through the opposition that came at him.

"All Might is gonna show up like last time, right..?" Uraraka said, a hint of desperation in her tone. The others just remained silent, all of them hoping that he would, and do so soon. Some sense of relief came over them as they watched Aizawa move to the side to avoid a knife strike, then lunge forwards and deliver a hard kick right into the gunman's side. The man stumbled before his foot caught on the corpse of Nightrshade, where he fell over, quickly rolling with fall to try and make distance from the rapidly approaching Aizawa.

What they hadn't seen though is that as he rolled away, the man had moved to his pistol that had been thrown to the ground. As he came back up onto his feet, Fumikage's widened in fear for their teacher as the gun came up, aimed straight at Eraserhead.

Aizawa however had been keeping track of the pistol's location, so when he saw the gunman roll towards it, he was ready to move out of the line of fire. The discharged bullet slipped past the homeroom teacher, who quickly covered the rest of the distance while attempting to ensnare the villain before he could fire again. The two locked up with one another, each having a hold on the other and drawing them both to a stalemate, struggling to try and free themselves while also attempting to toss their enemy.

The two of them stared right into the goggle's of the other as they struggled. "Best give up now, I don't usually work during this time, so I know their are plenty of other heroes coming." Aizawa muttered to the gunman, who chuckled at the threat.

"You're right, I know there are plenty heading this way now." Suddenly Aizawa felt the gunman shift his body weight, forcing the homeroom teacher to adjust his stance before he was thrown off balance. As he recovered, he heard the pistol be fired despite not coming close to hitting the him. The sound of a large fire roaring to life drew his attention..

The teacher's eyes widened as he realized what had happened, watching as the ignited fuel lit the leaking gas of other damaged cars. The fire was rapidly spreading, and Aizawa noticed that it was going to surround his students really soon, most of whom were injured to the point that he wasn't certain if they would be able to get away without some kind of serious burn.

"Me or the kids asshole! Decide fast!" Aizawa turned his attention to the man, sneering at him. The gunman was right, there was no way Aizawa could defeat him and rescue the students before they were caught by the fire. Quickly making his decision, Aizawa roughly shoved the villain back, releasing his hold on the gunman who moved backwards with the shove to create distance between them. The teacher was already sprinting towards the students, who were currently trying to figure out where to escape too and how to carry the two unconscious students.

"I'll grab Ashido and Yaoyorozu, run!" Aizawa said as he landed near them, startling them as he reached down and picked up the two wounded students. He did notice how they both were very light, Aizawa recognizing the small yet clear sign of Uraraka focusing on her quirk's activation. Seems they had been hatching some kind of plan, he had just happened to make it easier. They were all able to quickly escape the rapidly growing inferno, stopping to catch their breath when they had put a safe distance between themselves and the fire. Nearby, the Fire-Fighting hero Backdraft was keeping the fire contained, preventing it from spreading so that they could be extinguished when more fire fighter's arrived.

"R-Release!" Uraraka said after Aizawa had set Mina and Momo down, exhaling and sitting down on the ground next to Tsuyu and Izuku. Fumikage was sitting across from Tsuyu, Kirishima next to him while Iida stood next to the homeroom teacher, watching.

"Aizawa Sensei, who was that villain?" Iida asked, the members of 1-A looking towards Eraserhead as he watched emergency services deal with the fire. He had lowered the goggles from his eyes, letting them hang around his neck, noticing that the gunman had left the area. He looked to the students, glancing over the injured ones, Ashido and Yaoyorozu in particular.

He then looked back out over the carnage, his frown deepening because he had no clue who that man had been. Honestly, the only thing concerning the hero was the fact that they had escaped after causing so much damage. He needed to report to the others at UA as soon as he could. " I don't know." he finally answered them, the students watching their teacher for a moment before joining him in viewing the damage

* * *

**AN: So it's been a bit since I've posted something onto this site, and maybe I'm jumping the shark doing a crossover of MHA with bits from the Wanted Comic/movie. In particular it has been a bit since I've had to do dialogue. I do love constructive criticism though, and assistance to improve it would be greatly appreciated. I would also say just hearing what you thought, even if you don't have any criticism to give, is just as wonderful for me to see.**

**Also am worried I may accidentally go OC with characters which I do wish to avoid, so help in guiding me there if possible is another thing I would be appreciative towards. Thank you readers, and enjoy.**

**Also, While I have read past the stopping point of the anime, this obviously is going to depart from the canon plot.**


	2. Chapter 2

The handy thing about having someone with a quirk like Recovery Girl as a faculty member meant that U.A. High could run their students through some rigorous training despite the risk of injury. Granted they need to make sure injuries weren't too horrible, given that her healing quirk did have its limitations; it was very helpful regardless. It also meant that even with heavy injuries, students were unlikely to miss much for classes as they could be patched up enough to at least make it to school.

The unfortunate part about that meant that injuries were not an acceptable excuse to miss a day, which meant that Tokoyami found himself at his desk in homeroom with his left arm in a sling, having to pay careful attention that he didn't stress it too much. Of course he found himself occasionally wincing or hissing in pain when he shifted it in just the right way to agitate it. Besides Momo, he had received the worst injuries. Many bruises and cuts, but the primary injuries had been where the humerus forms the joint at the shoulder being fractured along with the top of his shoulder blade having been shattered. Not to mention the damage the muscles there had also received.

Recovery Girl was successful in healing the worst of the damage, but he would need another visit with the nurse before the injuries would be completely healed up. So for now, he had to get through class with a shoulder that decided to ignite with a sharp pain at the slightest twitch. At least it had been a quiet day, and he hoped it stay that way; last time he thought he was going to having a relaxing day, he got shot in the shoulder with a rifle round.

His eyes drifted to Momo, who had her arm in a sling also. It had taken a beating as well, and when he had actually gotten a good look at it, he knew it was going to take some work. The awkward angle that her forearm had been in relation to her upper arm had him shuddering when he had seen it.

Both Ochako and Iida had been lucky, the two of them only having taken bruises and bumps, with the worst injuries having been a laceration on Iida's shin; Ochako's worst injury was a cut she'd taken across the side of her head, but it had been a clean cut and hadn't hit anything important. Neither of them even had bandages, as the two injuries had been easily mended by the U.A. nurse.

As for Izuku, Fumikage felt like he should be more concerned, but the injuries Izuku had taken from the crash, honestly, were on par with the injuries he tended to give himself with his own quirk. So if anything Fumikage felt bad for not feeling too concerned.

Mina had also been lucky, considering she, along with Momo, had been flung against the wall/ceiling of the bus when it had tipped over. Whatever fractures she may have suffered were simple ones to heal, not having gone through the bone completely. The concussion she had taken had required her to stay in the nurses office these past two nights, but she'd been given the go ahead to attend classes with the rest of them. As far as he was aware, she was still on watch and had to report back to Recovery Girl once classes were over though, just to be sure it didn't develop into anything more serious. Hopefully today she'd be allowed to actually go home.

Fumikage didn't have to worry at all for Kirishima, whose quirk had saved him multiple times that day. The worst injury he had taken, as far as Fumikage knew, were a couple of bruises where he had been shot by the gunman. Granted, he wondered how his peer was taking the incident, since one of the bruises from the bullets sat right on the bridge of his nose, right between his eyes. The thought even had Fumikage feeling a bit uncomfortable.

The last person his eyes settled on was Tsuyu, who seemed to have avoided any major injuries, beyond the large gash that had opened up on her arm. He distinctly remembered having to eventually support her when she began to get light headed, which he found out had been because of her blood pressure dropping from the wounds. He was thankful nothing worse than that developed, as emergency services had arrived to stabilize any of the serious injuries.

A part of him still worried though, as once they all finally had a chance to relax and unwind, he remembered the look she had as she sat quietly. To others, it would appear to be her usual stoic face, but he could see how she seemed spaced out as they sat there. He could tell that her mind was elsewhere, especially when she was surprised by Aizawa-sensei approaching and speaking to her. About what he didn't know, but Fumikage did know that she had not been completely there mentally.

Here they sat in class though, and it genuinely felt nice to Fumikage. Another day to, hopefully, unwind his mind with boring classwork. And hopefully afterwards just chat with friends, even though he knew questions about the street fight was going to end up being the main topic once again. He also knew though, that if it really got to a point of being uncomfortable for any of them, most of the others would back off. It's how the first day had gone, with few of them actually speaking about what had happened.

"That'll be it for today, homeroom dismissed." Aizawa-sensei drulled on, surprisingly not moving to climb into his sleeping bag and heading for the door instead. The others were already up and about before he'd even stepped out, and unsurprisingly, Fumikage could see the others descend upon those who'd been there during the attack, the teen being happy that for him, it was only Shoji right now.

"How's the shoulder?" he started the conversation, leaning back against a desk as he looked at Fumikage.

As if on queue, the bird-headed teen found himself bumping the arm into the chair as he turned to face Shoji better, eliciting a curse under his breath as the jolt sent pain rocketing through his shoulder and arm. Bringing a hand up to gently cradle the injured joint, he then looked at Shoji, throwing a sarcastic smile towards the tall student. "Can say it's seen better days, that's for certain."

"Nothing serious, I hope?"

Fumikage shook his head, "Recovery Girl said another visit to her tonight should be enough. Not going to get rid of the soreness though, so going to be a rough night for me I think."

A grinning mouth appeared on the end of a tentacle, Shoji speaking through it, "Your tough though, you'll be able to get through it."

Tokoyami closed his eyes, a small grin lining his beak though, "Thanks for the sympathy, Shoji."

"So, Tokoyami!" a new voice cut in, Shoji and Tokoyami both looking to Sero who was walking over to them, Kirishima and Kaminari right behind him. "Well, first, how's the shoulder feeling?"

"Well," Tokoyami shifted in his seat so he could better face Cellophane, again being careful of said shoulder. "As I told Shoji, it's seen better days."

"Could imagine," Kaminari said, sitting up on the desk. "Kirishima was telling us about it all. First one to go after the guy, right?"

The bird-headed teen watched the other student for a moment, looking down before nodding his head, "Yeah, I believe so."

"Him and Iida," Kirishima added, standing in front of Tokoyami's desk. "Those two were out there first, though by the time I had gotten out there..." he paused for a moment, looking at Tokoyami's shoulder before scratching the back of his head. "Sorry I didn't get out there sooner to help, Tokoyami."

Looking to Kirishima, Tokoyami sat up while smiling softly, "It's alright, Kirishima. You were doing your part in helping people out of the bus, Iida and I were just doing our part to keep people safe as well. Can't possibly fault you for not being up there at that exact moment." His smile grew a bit more when Kirishima looked back up with a smile of his own.

"Yeah, and I gotta give you credit for staying in the fight and even throwing in your own part even with the busted shoulder! True man right there!" Tokoyami closed his eyes, shaking his head even though his smile remained.

"Sorry to ask this, curiosity just has the best of me, but what'd the guy do to get that shot on you? Hide and then catch you while you weren't looking?" Kaminari asked, Tokoyami surprising himself when he tensed up at the question. His eyes opened and settled on the desk in front of him, thinking back to that moment. He didn't even remember seeing the guy fire the gun. He had lunged out with Dark Shadow, and then as he moved to attack the guy again, he'd already been shot. It was the exact opposite of what Kaminari said, Tokoyami had been the one to ambush him, but ended up being the one who was injured.

"Tokoyami?" Shoji spoke up, breaking the teen from his thoughts. He looked to his friend who'd moved off the desk. Looking to Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero, they too were watching him with a mix of expressions. Kirishima seemed a little worried, but Sero and Kaminari just looked confused.

"What is it? Can't remember?" Kaminari prodded further. Again Tokoyami stayed quiet for a moment longer before shaking his head again.

"Don't remember exactly when. Guy took some shots at us before the others came out, so probably was when we were distracted." he finally said, giving a half-truth.

"Ah, well at least he only got your shoulder, right?" Kaminari gave him a smile and thumbs up, Tokoyami just nodding his head.

"Yeah." was his only response to it. He tuned out Kirishima, Sero, and Kaminari as they continued chatting, no longer interested in remaining a part of the conversation.

"You ok, Tokoyami?" a voice whispered in his ear, the teen turning his head slightly to look at a mouth resting next to his head from Shoji's tentacle. Tokoyami looked up at him, Shoji remaining silent while waiting for a response.

"Yeah, Yeah I am. Just, not fun to think about, you know?" he said, again trying to move off the topic. Shoji watched him before nodding his head.

"Alright, but you need to talk, I'm always ears." He said, the mouth smiling as ears formed on two of the other tentacles, drawing an amused scoff from Tokoyami.

"Oh yeah! Tokoyami!" Sero again caught his attention, Shoji and him looking to the three others once more. Sero took a moment to glance behind him, as if looking to make sure someone wasn't nearby before looking back to the others. "Another curiosity, since you were also one of the only ones there at the mall, but who the heck was the dude there? You think he might be related to Asui somehow?"

Now Tokoyami was frowning, glancing at Kirishima who gave him a nervous smile while shrugging. "Sorry, but that dude seemed to be the whole reason that villain even attacked. Hard not to bring him up." Kirishima said.

Tokoyami took a chance to look past the others, eyes settling on the back of Tsuyu's head, the girl wrapped up in a conversation with Ochako, Mina, and Kyoka. "I doubt it. She made it pretty clear that she had no idea how he could be related to her." he was speaking in a hushed tone as well.

"Well he's gotta be, right?" Kaminari was leaning forwards so he too didn't have to speak up. "I mean come on, giant tongue, sticking to walls, and hopping down two stories like it was nothing? Way too close to not be a relative of some kind." Tokoyami was watching Kaminari, though he caught sight of Kyoka glancing back towards their group, a frown on her face. The young man just looked away, knowing she must have heard it. He honestly wasn't sure who had better hearing capabilities between her and Shoji.

"Quirks are weird, Kaminari." Shoji said. "Strange abilities develop, and sometimes they develop odd physical characteristics. And sometimes," he interrupted Sero before he could talk, "Quirks that are similar to one another do develop in people who have no connection to one another." He gestured to Kaminari, "You, Kyoka, and Momo were attacked by a guy with an electrical quirk at USJ. You think he's related to you?" Kaminari blinked before bringing a hand up to his chin.

"Guess you're right about that, slipped my mind." he muttered.

Sero chuckled, "Well you did fry your brain by that point. Walking out of USJ with your thumbs up and all!" Kaminari's eyes widened as he rounded on the other, Kirishima joining in on the laughing.

"Hey-!" was the only retort Kaminari could muster, glaring at the two of them, some others in the room having taken a moment to glance back before returning to their conversations. Fumikage chuckled quietly, and he could see the grin on Shoji's appendage still there. "Since we are on about quirks, what do you guys think that gun toting villain had?" Kaminari said to try and change the subject.

After calming down a bit, Kirishima brought a hand up to his chin in thought. "Not sure, really. I honestly think it could have been anything. Guy was covered head-to-toe so no idea if he had some type of mutation quirk."

"Well, he had to have used it at some point, right? From what you've told us, he did put up a good fight." Sero added, looking to Fumikage.

Kaminari deflected the attention away from Fumikage by speaking again, "Maybe, but then again Izuku, Iida, and Todoroki said the Hero Killer's quirk had little to do with his actual combat abilities. Something about ingesting blood or something like that." he shuddered slightly at the thought. "Izuku even pointed out that the guy would probably have been more dangerous if he didn't bother trying to use his quirk at all."

Kirishima nodded, "Makes sense, so maybe we didn't even see the guy's quirk."

Again, Fumikage by this point had separated himself from the conversation, watching some of the other students pack up to head on out for home. Bakugo had been long gone by this point, which was no surprise. His eyes settled on Tsuyu when he saw her packing up her things. At the moment she had separated from the other girls, so he figured now would be a good moment to check up on her. Picking up his own bag, he shouldered it as he began to walk past them. "I'll catch you guys tomorrow. Have to see Recovery Girl before I can head home, so figure I should get it out of the way and hopefully not miss the train."

"Alright, see you later, Tokoyami." Kirishima said, Shoji just giving a silent nod to him. Sero and Kaminari said a quick goodbye as well before going back to their own conversation. Fumikage had to pick up his pace a little when Tsuyu had begun to leave, though he was able to catch her in the hallway before she got to far away.

"As- erm, Tsuyu." He said, walking towards her. She glanced back at him, nodding her head to him and stopping so he could catch up.

"Hiya, Fumikage. Need something?" she asked him, beginning to continue walking when he was next to her.

"No, no. I just wanted to," he paused for a moment, "Well, to see how you were doing." he said, looking to her.

She looked to him, then to his shoulder before bringing a finger to her lip, eyes settling back on his own. "Well, injury wise I'm doing pretty good. Fortunately a cut is a lot easier to heal," she lifted her arm to show the arm that had been hurt, where he could make out a faint scar, "compared to what happened to your shoulder. You doing ok?" she asked him while lowering her arm back down.

He looked to his shoulder then back to her, "Was actually going to the nurse to have her finish up healing it before heading home. Been quite a bother though. Feels like any tiny movement has the potential to aggravate it." He scoffed in amusement as he looked back to it, "From what Recovery Girl told me, it seems like it's not going to stop being sore for a couple more days, so have that to look forward to as well."

Tsuyu nodded her head, hand having lowered back to her side by this point, "I'm sorry to hear that, Tokoyami. I hope it doesn't last too long. Would hate to see Lil' Shadow have to do all your work." the joke made Fumikage blink before he looked at her, Tsuyu just keeping her eyes ahead.

Chuckling, he too then looked back ahead, "I'm not going to be that crippled. Least I hope not, now that you have me wonder."

"Have to make sure you stay sharp, think of all the possibilities." she looked to him, a smile formed by only a slight quirk upwards at the corners of her mouth. "I can't always be there to regurgitate fight-winning items for you, after all." she then turned forwards, Fumikage once again caught off guard before chuckling.

"Yes, yes, you made a noble sacrifice for the both of us, Tsuyu, I get it." he said, though she could tell he meant no malice with the statement. "I'll do all I can to make sure the contents of your stomach stay there, alright?" She chuckled softly, looking at him again.

"Going to hold you to that, Tokoyami." she stopped when they reached the stairs, knowing they'd have to part ways here, as Recovery Girl's office was up a floor while she needed to head down. "Well, thanks for checking up on me. And I hope Recovery Girl can fix your shoulder enough that it doesn't bother you too much. Nodding her head to him, she then began to descend the stairs as he remained there.

Watching her, he suddenly called out to her, "Hey, Tsuyu." she then looked back up at him, finger rising to her lip as she croaked in curiosity. "Just..." he felt nervous with his pause, trying to think of exactly what he wanted to say. He wanted to ask her more about how she felt after the attack, but he wasn't certain if now really was the time to say anything. Finally settling on a response, he then made eye contact, his small, crimson gaze meeting her big, black eyes. "Just, I want you to know, if you ever need to talk or get something off your chest, I'm always here to listen. Alright?"

He once again caught the look of unease in her eyes, again something he only noticed because he was accustomed to her usual stoic appearance, and he was immediately regretting what he had said, worried he may have only brought up any bad thoughts to her again. She nodded her head to him though, "Thank you, Tokoyami. I'll see you tomorrow, kero." she waited until he said his goodbye, Tsuyu then turning and walking out of sight.

Fumikage stood there, listening to her footsteps fade away before sighing and making his way up the stairs.

* * *

All but Recovery Girl and Hound Dog sat in the conference room, watching the ending to one of several video clips that had come their way regarding the incident that occurred in the streets. They had received recording from many sources, though the primary ones they used were dashboard cameras of the police cruisers, as well as from cameras that periodically sat at the corners of streets. The only sound came from the video, Aizawa finally pausing it once the fighting had ended. They didn't need to see what occurred once the villain had left the scene.

Once the video closed, Snipe was actually the first one to speak up, "I figure I best say that I can understand possible suspicion thrown my way given this situation. Power Loader can vouch for me not being there however." he said, the other named teacher nodding his head.

"Yeah, Snipe and I were tinkering with his revolver during this time." Loader spoke up.

Nezu looked to the two heroes, "The camera feeds did show you both on campus grounds at the time; I apologize for any offense that may have been given too you, Snipe"

He waved away the apology, leaning back in his seat, "Nah, all fine. Gotta cover possibilities, and given the shooting there, can't blame anyone for being suspicious."

Cementoss was next to speak, still looking at the paused recording, "So, Aizawa, with you there, what guess to this individual's quirk do you make?"

"If I had to make an educated guess, the best I can think of is heightened reflexes, or some variation on that." Aizawa responded in his dull tone "A few things stood out for me." Aizawa pressed a few buttons on the remote he was holding to cycle through some of the footage, finally settling on one of the cameras on the street corner. In the paused feed, they could see the bus lying on its side, the gunman standing atop it and looking in the direction the camera was located. They couldn't see the targets, but they all knew very well who had been hit, especially with the blue glow dimming down from tube beneath the barrel of the man's rifle.

"Tokoyami Fumikage is no where near the slowest in 1-A, he's been improving on quickly directing and attacking with his Dark Shadow." The video began to play, the teachers watching the gunman go to turn, the student moving up over the bus and lashing out with Dark Shadow. "The gunman dodging the attack is not the primary point, but rather his response after he avoids the attack." They saw the gunman raising their weapon the moment they made contact with the asphalt, kneeled down, and firing a shot that knocked Tokoyami off the bus, Aizawa finally pausing the clip there.

Snipe whistled, his eyes resting on the image of the gunman. "I see what ya mean there. Guy's quick on the draw."

Aizawa continued, "He was able to aim his rifle with almost no delay, but more importantly to me, he identified Tokoyami as the source of the threat in those same few moments. Dark Shadow was the only thing he could have initially seen, but he shot past it to strike at Tokoyami instead."

"Him putting down Breaker immediately after I disarmed him was also a quick shot that struck right between his eyes. Nightshade was only saved because he blocked the bullet going for the same spot." Aizawa was referring to one of the pro heroes who had responded with him, but was struck down before they even got a chance to get into the fight.

"Fending off yourself and Nightshade simultaneously too." Midnight added in, still staring at the paused video.

"Jet Stream's death, though, is the biggest piece of evidence for his quirk." Aizawa said as he switched the recording, their view point seeming to start just above some cars as it moved down a street. "This clip is from Jet Stream's personal feed on his helmet."

Ectoplasm now pitched in, "He always liked to post videos of some of his crime-fighting for people, let people into his shoes while he worked.

"And this is his last recording, which is not going public." Aizawa said, hitting play. The video had them immediately moving down a street and making a sharp turn down another. "Jet Stream had just made a pass on the gunman before this, and he made sure to keep himself out of the line of fire as he approached." They all watched as the feed zoomed towards a car before slamming into it, then into the gunman while they were in the air. The last part of the clip had Jet Stream turning to hit the gunman again, only for the villain to fire off their one shot, where the camera then got a close up view of a front bumper as Jet Stream slammed into it. The last moments of the feed had half the view being taken up by the pavement, with a partial glimpse of the gunman getting up.

"He recovered and shot Jet Stream in about a second." Spoke Nezu, thinking to himself out loud.

"Recovered, drew his pistol, shot Jet Stream, and avoided him." Snipe added in.

Aizawa looked around the room to the other heroes, "Jet Stream's helmet is designed to protect him from the large forces he might take during those strafing runs. The bullets recovered from the scene and fired from that pistol would not have been able to penetrate Jet Stream's helmet, especially with its angled surfaces."

Everyone now looked from the feed to Aizawa, who continued. "Jet Stream died from exsanguination due to hemorrhaging from massive internal trauma." Aizawa brought up a finger, placing it right behind his left collar bone. "That bullet went into a spot where the plates of Jet Stream's armor separates for mobility, missed the bones in his body, and tore through his lung, destroyed his heart, and then finally settled in his liver."

Many eyes stared at Aizawa as they all processed what he had said. Present Mic was the one to break the silence that hung over the room. "A one-in-a-billion shot, then?"

Snipe shook his head, having looked back at the feed while leaning onto the table in front of him. "Normally in that situation, a person would have two options that may work out for them." All eyes now settled on the gunslinger, "Recover and dodge the attack, or recover and shoot. To do both would mean that, as seen, a person would only get that one shot off before they needed to move."

Cementoss spoke, "Why not luck, then?"

"Rewind it to when the guy recovers, please." Aizawa did so, Snipe watching the paused feed of the gunman staring just to the side of them, given the camera's placement on Jet Stream. "If shooting was the option, folks would fire several shots to increase their odds on hittin' something important. Play it again, slower if ya can." The video kept going, this time at half-speed, giving a much clearer view of the gun going off with the gunman then moving to avoid the attack. "He regains control of his movements, draws his pistol, and immediately after firing that shot is already moving to avoid Jet Stream." he looked to Aizawa, "And no other shots went to Jet Stream?" When Eraserhead shook his head, Snipe looked to the table in front of him, shifting back in his chair.

"He didn't even go to confirm that kill. Fella knew that shot was enough."

After a few more moments of silence, All Might finally took the chance to speak up. "Do we think he may have some involvement with the League of Villains?"

Aizawa took over once again, "Not enough evidence to argue either way. I want to bring up one last thing that bothers me, regarding the individual that the gunman had pulled from police custody." This time, the clips he brought up were from the mall where things had originally kicked off. They were only shown the clip of the man identified as Croaker lashing out with his tongue and then throwing the person over the railing. Another camera on the next lower floor showed them Croaker hanging upside down. Aizawa stopped the clip by this point, looking to the others. "That man's quirk concerns me."

Nezu nodded his head, "Miss Asui Tsuyu, yes? The abilities he showed there are certainly similar to her's."

"What records I could gather about Miss Asui's family, going back about two generations, does not bring up anyone matching that description." Aizawa turned back to the paused recording. "No registrations of quirks identifies him either."

"And yet to have a quirk like that be so similar to someone else.." Midnight said, leaning forwards onto the table in front of her. "Could it be possible that, while Froppy's quirk and family has a connection to frogs, that a different family could have acquired traits related to toads?" she asked.

"It is a possibility, yes." Nezu said. "I believe that we need to expand our search on these gentlemen's quirks outside of Japan. See if anything else may show up from there."

The teachers all nodded in agreement, Ectoplasm taking a moment to speak up, "If I may suggest, it may also be best if we arrange counselling for the students, particularly the ones involved. They've been doing well, especially since the attack at USJ, but everyone has a breaking point. I'm worried some of them may not have proper coping mechanisms for the stress of the USJ incident, their internships, the final exams, and especially with this attack as well."

"Indeed, the chaotic nature of this particular attack is going to be difficult for some of them to deal with." Aizawa said, "Not to mention with the injuries the students suffered, and in particular this was the second time I saved Miss Asui's life. We all know that a near death experience is hard enough for most pros, I don't think I need to speak for how two of them in less than a year may hit a teen's mind."

"Absolutely," Nezu said, "I will see to it that Hound Dog is informed of this, as well as contact other counselors. We will also continue to look into more information regarding these villains and see what information we can acquire."

* * *

Tsuyu glanced up to the sky, looking at the grey clouds overhead, a steady drumming of rain to accompany it. Walking out of the train station and into the rain, she enjoyed the cool feeling of the water falling on her. She had an umbrella for these days, and usually she would put it up if to just prevent her clothes from getting drenched. Today though, she decided she'd enjoy the refreshing feeling, if just to help settle her racing mind.

To think, just the other day, she and her friends had decided to go on a trip to the mall, something fun to do after the stress of the final exams. She enjoyed it too, touring the large array of stores without a care in the world at the time. Only a training camp to think about, that honestly she was a bit excited for. A chance to just hang out with all her friends. Granted she had to consider what she was going to do with her two younger siblings while she was away, but she figured that one of her parents could manage some days off while she was away.

How quickly it changed though, Tsuyu's eyes lowering to the ground as she thought of the fight she watched break out between the two men in the mall. Sure, at this point she wasn't a stranger to seeing people injured, honestly Midoriya had done it enough times that she wondered every now and then if he was masochistic or something. Regardless, to watch the one man plummet several floors and writhe on the ground in pain, then to hear his desperate attempts to breath through a smashed windpipe. All done by someone who, at the very least, had a tongue and sticky hands and feet to match her own quirk, with the apparent body strength to hop down two floors without issue. She shivered, unsure if it was because of the cold rain, or because of the idea of watching her own abilities be used in such a vicious manner.

Sighing, she finally decided to pull out her umbrella less she actually start shivering from the cold. Still, she brought her arms tighter against her body for some extra warmth, least it was what she told herself. The mall though had only been the start, her grip tightening slightly on the handle of her umbrella. Thinking that the incident in the mall was going to be the worst of part of that day, only to have things go crazy in a matter of only a few seconds.

That metal screeching in her ears as it scraped the road, the momentary silence following the crash, then the unmistakable sound of gunfire. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and she settled her racing heart. They all came out alive, and she felt some pride in knowing that during the moment she had kept herself calm and focused on the situation at hand. She had done her part to help, and right now that all she needed to think about.

The sight of her home lightened her mood, another deep breath helping to relieve whatever tension remained in her. Tsuyu had no desire to worry Samidare or Satsuki, they didn't need to experience her stress alongside her. Reaching the door, she began to go over what she needed to do in her head, closing her umbrella and shaking what water she could off of it. Moving inside, she kicked off her shoes first and hung up the umbrella, letting out a kero as she relaxed herself. She left her backpack near her shoes for now, she'd grab it after she had gotten dinner finished.

"Samidare! Satsuki! I'll have dinner ready in about a half hour or so, make sure to wash up by then!" she called out to them, receiving no response in return. Shaking her head with a sigh, she made her way towards the kitchen. They were probably in their rooms at the moment, which meant that the sound of the TV in the kitchen irked her slightly. She had told them multiple times already to turn it off if they weren't using it. "Kero..." she croaked in exasperation.

As she approached, she could see the TV from the hallway, and she found herself stopping as she recognized what was on the screen. It'd only been a two days since the attack in the streets, so it was still fresh and everywhere on the news. News outlets trying to guess what had happened, who had done it, and whether it was connected to the villain attack that had occurred during the class' internships. She watched the news play recordings of the attack they'd received from people recording with their cellphones. Tsuyu felt herself shiver again, her mind settling back on those chaotic minutes. She honestly didn't even remember how long the fight had gone on, though honestly she didn't care to really know.

"We will now show a clip of the villain responsible for the attack that was released publicly only a few hours ago. Be warned, what you are going to see is graphic and disturbing." the reporter said. A shaky clip of a black clad figure was playing now, the image unfocused and moving everywhere as the person tried to keep themselves steady. The crack of gunshots were loud, each shot followed by the camera shaking more as the person recording instinctively flinched.

Tsuyu simply watched the clip roll, realizing how tame that video was compared to what was actually going on. How loud it was, all the noises, the sight of the metal sphere that threw her across the asphalt. She could feel her heart racing again; her ears ringing, the dust making it hard for her to breath and blocking her view of her friends. She grabbed the arm she had injured reflexively, her eyes still settled on the TV. The silhouette of a rifle bearing enemy, the only thing she could make out as it came towards her. That expressionless mask, and those red lenses. The red glint, like red eyes, no emotion, no feelings, just violence and death.

"Kero!" She gasped as she then shook her head, eyes closed as she forced out the thoughts. No, she needed to focus on now. She was alive, her friends were alive, that's what mattered. Taking another deep breath, she finally opened her eyes and then began to walk into the kitchen, towards the TV to turn it off. "Samidare, Satsuki! What did I say about turning off the TV when you aren't using it?" she yelled out as she flicked the power button.

"Sorry, my bad." a male voice spoke, far to deep in tone to be her little brother. She whirled around to face the source, eyes wide in shock as she found herself being watched by a man who was lounging in a chair, sitting on it sideways so that he could use the wall as a backrest. Any rebuttal she had was stopped when she felt something collide with the back of her head, everything going black immediately afterwards.

* * *

A strong, burning odor hit her nose, causing Tsuyu to snap awake. The horrid scent felt like it was singeing the inside of nostrils, the teen moving her head away from the source. She regretted the action, as the moment her head moved it began to throb painfully, Tsuyu attempting to reach up to her head, only to notice that her arms wouldn't move. Finally opening her eyes, she blinked a few times while adjusting to the bright light. She was still in the kitchen, but what had happened?

Her eyes shot open in a panic when she remembered the stranger sitting against the wall, Tsuyu immediately trying to move once more, but she realized quickly that her limbs were being held down by something. Casting her eyes down, she could see that currently there were two metal bands, one just beneath her chest and pinning her arms to her side with the other wrapped around her forearms and pinning them to her thighs, which were pinned to one another by the band as well. Her next instinct was to try and kick, hoping to break whatever was holding her, but as she tried to extend her legs, she felt that her shins were constricted as well, her knees bent so that her lower legs were bound to the underside of whatever she was sitting on.

Something metal digging into the sides of her mouth alerted her to the fact that she was also gagged, and any attempt to open her mouth resulted in something sharp pressing into the corners. Her next move was to try and force whatever was in her mouth out with her tongue, but she let out a muffled yelp when her tongue collided with something sharp, and she quickly began to taste blood.

It seemed the only thing she could move at this point was her head, and she quickly scanned around to see what she could possibly do or who was there, despite her head pounding in protest to the sudden movements. The stranger was gone, though the TV was once again on.

"You never get use to smelling salts, believe me." Spoke someone behind her. Her head turned as much as it could to see who it was, eyes settling on the very man she had seen just before she blacked out. He flicked the capsule into the trash bin as he moved by it before grabbing a chair and moving it so it was settled across from her. Her dark eyes met with his contrasting blue eyes as he sat down, lifting a cup in his hand to his mouth. The short hair atop his head was blonde, though it seemed faded in color. Truthfully, if it were any other situation she probably would never really notice him in a crowd.

Nothing about his face really stood out to her, only those icy eyes that seemed to hold no clear emotion to them. It was the type of look any of her classmates would have during school hours, bored and uninterested. He sipped the liquid that had a little bit of steam flowing off of it, his head turning to look at the news broadcast that was still going on about the attack yesterday.

"Speaking of being used to things, hearing about my work on a news broadcast is one of those things I'm not used to." he chuckled, taking another sip of his drink before turning to look back at her. "And yes, I would be the one who almost put a modified 5.56 millimeter rifle bullet right, " he then lifted a gloved hand, pressing an uncovered finger right between her eyes on the bridge of her nose. "Here." He pulled his hand back when she recoiled from him, her eyes once more looking around the room to figure out what she could do. "My casual wear doesn't stand out as much as my combat gear does, which is kinda the point I guess." he indicated to himself, his torso covered by a olive-green leather jacket that was open down the front, revealing a plain white shirt underneath. Bringing one leg up to rest on his opposite thigh, she could see the jeans that came down over a pair of black boots.

He took one more sip from his drink before he set the cup down on the table, shifting to relax back in his chair as he watched her. Movement to her side had her jerking her head to see a face she recognized, the clammy looking Croaker walking past the both of them to then lean back against a wall, arms crossed. She could see him picking at his teeth with his tongue, the slimy organ digging into whatever crevice of his rancid looking teeth it could find.

A sharp snap of his fingers had Tsuyu's eyes returning to the man in front of her, "I'm certain you haven't forgotten that face, Ms. Asui. Which is why I'm here with my men." He leaned forwards, his blue eyes once more locking with her's. "Here is my dilemma, Frogger. I was really hoping to stay as much under the radar as I could, honestly. But, Croaker here," he indicated to the man with a sharp jab of his thumb backwards, "appears to have a horrible understanding of the word 'subtlety.' " She noticed the sneer Croaker shot at the back of the man's head before looking off to a sound elsewhere in the house.

Her eyes returned to the man in front of her as he continued, "I know, my little show on that day seems contradictory to what I'm saying, but I still need Croaker, and I was relying on the fact that I just run off, fade into shadows, and people wonder who in the fuck went stir crazy on that street." He then looked off to the side, sighing some before he moved to pick up his drink once more.

After a moment to finish whatever it was, he then looked back to her while he set the glass down. "However, I come to find out, that you happened to have eavesdropped on a conversation that was being had in the mall. Now, I don't care how much you would say you heard or know, because if there is even a small chance you heard something important, then I need to treat that as a certainty, which brings us here." he gestured to her with his hands before he sat back in his chair, the wood creaking slightly from the rough movement as he also brought his palms down onto his thighs in an exasperated manner.

Sighing, he then leaned back so he could bring his feet up to rest on the table. His jacket fell open more as he did so, and she could see the holster to a pistol located in his underarm. "Now," in a quick motion he drew the pistol, leveling it so that it was pointed right at her head, her eyes widening and body shaking. "Maybe you wonder, why don't I just kill you?" she heard a click as he pulled the hammer of the pistol back. After a pause he continued, "Well, I have my reasons for that." he then shrugged, removing the pistol from in front of her face, beginning to spin it on his finger.

"Instead, I've come up with an idea. A deal between me and you." he gestured to himself then at her, pistol still spinning on his opposite hand. "Now to clarify the other question I'm sure is burning in that skull of yours, your little siblings are not dead, injured, maimed, blah, blah, blah. Maybe bruises from resistance, but other than that, they're fine." He then raised his hands in a peaceful gesture, pistol hanging on his finger, though when she suddenly jerked trying to free herself of her bonds. "Hold off on the heroics for now you little tree frog, they aren't here anymore."

She felt herself go cold at that remark, her motions stopping as she just stared at him. "They are in my custody, on their way to my little hidey hole." Hearing that, she fought to keep back any tears at the idea of her baby brother and sister being in such danger. She was trying to maintain whatever straight face she could now, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her panic.

"Now then, my deal." he at this point had re-holstered the firearm he'd been waving about, draping an arm over the back of the chair as he continued to lean back. "I have no intention of staying in this place. I have my own home to mess around in, and I certainly would rather be there. However, I am looking for something I can only find here. As said, was hopin' to do it quietly, but this ugly fucker just had to go and ruin that." he didn't even bother to indicate to Croaker who was still in the back, who lifted a hand to flip off the man at the table. "Next choice is to try and not become anymore a part of the headlines than, " he paused, looking to the TV and indicating to the still continuing broadcast, "well that."

"So," he then removed his feet from the table, his chair falling back onto all four legs as he was suddenly leaning towards her again. "needing to make sure you keep your big mouth shut, this is what's gonna happen. You don't say a single, damn, thing about me, my men, or anything about us. You keep your trap shut, and if you don't..." he paused for a moment, thinking about what he was going to say, "Well, I'm gonna start sending you gifts in the mail, and I can promise you are not going to like them."

He leaned forwards more until she could feel his breath on her face, though this time she held her place rather than move back. "If I even think you've said something about us," he paused once again, his gaze boring straight into her as his tone lowered some, "Well, let's just say, you'd be surprised how many body parts someone can lose and survive, if under the supervision of a skilled doctor that is, which we have." her hands curled into tight fists, the teen trying her hardest to hold her neutral expression.

After what felt like an eternity to her, he finally pulled back, standing up from his seat as he then stretched his arms up over his head, leaning backwards with it. "You hold up your end of the bargain, and your siblings will not be malnourished, dehydrated, sick, have a room that, while not as comfy as here, probably, will be comfortable enough that nothing bad comes off a terrible living space." he sat down on the edge of the table, " My people have been informed that any unnecessary harm to your brother or sister will be returned ten-fold to them, by me, personally. Now I can't exactly speak for their emotional well being by the end of this, which I'll apologize for and hope nothing too bad stays locked in their heads for the rest of their lives..."

He then stood up from his spot, walking towards her and stopping just in front of her, hands in his pockets. "Do you understand how this deal is going to work?" he watched her, Tsuyu hesitating for a moment before slowly nodding her head. He then smiled down at her, "Good, good." he then looked back at Croaker, gesturing towards the entrance which the toadish man complied with, walking out of her line of sight.

"Oh, right, two other things for you to know regarding our arrangement." he said, turning to look back at her. "One," he held up a hand with one finger extended, "informing people about why you can't speak is fine. I'm honestly quite aware that this thing is going to get to the heroes one way or another, so fuck it in regards to you telling them why you won't speak."

"And two," he raised a second finger before leaning forwards some to look at her, letting his hand then drop. "Everything I said that applies to you, also applies to your bird-brained-boyfriend." Tsuyu blinked, confused for a moment before realizing he was referring to Tokoyami. She had honestly forgotten for the moment that he too had been there at the food court. "That overgrown penguin talks, your first gift will have your sister's tongue as the ribbon on top." Tsuyu jerked slightly at the remark, the stranger straightening back up. "Now then, hasta luego." he said to her with a small wave, before the hand suddenly curled into a fist, the last thing she saw was it coming straight towards her face.

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**Alrighty, there we go with Chapter 2! Hopefully things don't seem too outta place. Little worried I may not have properly indicated the time between now and when the attack had occurred, but oh well. I hope you all enjoyed it, and please leave a review. Feel free to give me any constructive criticism if you see anything.**

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**Thank you for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Phew, been a bit of a rough patch to get this chapter out, especially after I had already dropped a third chapter, but decided to delete it to do it over again. Or rather decided to move what I had worked on to later.**

**Anyways, want to apologize for taking this long, and I will also apologize if this chapter, and possibly the next one, fall a little flat. I slammed head-long into one hell of a writer's block, trying to figure out how to get the story to where I want it to go. So if it reflects in the work of this chapter and the next, then I do apologize. I certainly tried my hardest, but damn can it be tough at times.**

**So, I hope you enjoy, and as always please feel free to let me know what you thought, and if you have some constructive criticism as well, then that is always welcomed too. Always love seeing in my email about review or even followers/favorites. Makes me feel so giddy inside! With that, enjoy!**

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Fumikage was following his homeroom teacher, the two of them making their way up to Principal Nezu's office. The part that made him a bit nervous was that he had no idea why he was being taken there. Glancing at the back of his teacher, he could only frown. All that was explained to him was that he was being taken there on an urgent matter.

Today had just felt off, ever since he had walked in to school today. He figured it was just some paranoia regarding how things had been going lately, though an uncertainty he had felt grew when he had noticed that Tsuyu had not been in class. Class 1-A was usually very good when it came to attendance. Of course, given the fact that they were at the most prestigious school for Heroes, it was natural to want to give it there all, everyday. All of them had worked very hard to get here, though some more than others, so nobody was about to squander such an opportunity.

Of course there were just some days where people couldn't make it, generally do to an illness of some kind. If he remembered correctly, Iida had missed a day after the Sports Festival, but that was again based on a family emergency so it was certainly understandable.

Their good attendance is what made Tsuyu's absence so strange, and to Fumikage, off-putting. As far as he could recall, this was her first and only day that she had missed, and she had seemed healthy the day before. Fumikage knew that sometimes an illness could strike suddenly, but still it just felt...off.

Aizawa-Sensei informing him to come to the Principal's office after class had certainly set off some alarms in Fumikage's head. He was trying to remember anything that could have landed him in some seriously deep trouble, and Aizawa had said nothing about what it was. Hell, when Fumikage asked, he'd simply been told that Aizawa was not allowed to say it out of the office.

"If it makes you feel any better, you aren't in trouble with anyone here." Aizawa spoke, hands in his pockets, blood-shot eyes watching ahead. Fumikage had almost felt better, but the inclusion of "anyone here" really put a damper on any relief. Just what the hell did he mean by that? Letting out a deep sigh to try and relax the tension he was feeling in his chest, Fumikage just watched ahead, scowl etched on his face.

Aizawa yawned as he opened the door to the Principal's office once they had made it there, heading inside and letting Fumikage follow him in before shutting the door. The teen came to a halt though as he looked at the other two occupants. Principal Nezu wasn't a shock, but what did shock him was the retired hero that sat in front of the principals desk. Fumikage easily recognized the short, jet-black hair that was neatly combed forwards, and most telling was the crimson eyes that met Fumikage's own.

Many had known him as Shadow Legion - The Storm of Shadows. Fumikage, however, knew of him differently. "Father?" Fumikage began, still standing near the doorway, "Why are you here?"

The man sat up in his seat, leaning back so he could look back without twisting his neck as much. "Hoping you had that answer, Fumikage." he responded, "Nezu here called me up, saying there was something urgent that he needed to talk to you about, and decided to at least let me know what it was."

Fumikage looked at Nezu, who gestured to the seat next to his father, "Please, have a seat." Fumikage was a bit hesitant at first, slowly making his way to the chair as he heard the door to the room open and shut, a quick glance back showing that Aizawa had left the room. He glanced at his father for a moment as he sat down, the man returning the look before they both looked to Nezu.

"Thank you, Mr. Tokoyami for coming here on such short notice."

"No issue, Nezu. And Arashi is fine." the man smiled, leaning back in his chair some. "Plus any reason to get out of the house is one I won't frown on."

"Indeed, though I do wish this could be a meeting where I have good news, but sadly that is not the case." Nezu said, eyes looking between the other two.

"Aizawa-Sensei said that I wasn't 'in trouble with anyone here.' " Fumikage said, Nezu looking to him before closing his eyes and nodding.

"Indeed, it is not trouble with anyone here that brings you to my office. There has, however, been a very unfortunate development regarding the villain attack that happened three days ago." Arashi sat up now, leaning forwards with his elbows on his knees. " Ms. Asui's absence today is due to an incident that occurred at her home last night."

The caught Fumikage's attention, who sat up now with eyes now firmly locked on the strange mammal in front of him. "Is she ok?" he asked, coughing for a moment as he reigned in the urgency his voice had had.

Arashi looked to Fumikage before back to Nezu, "And the reason you are telling Fumikage and I, and not the class?" the question had Fumikage turning to look at his father, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He too was wondering why they hadn't been told in class?

Nezu sighed, "Last night, Ms. Asui's younger brother and sister were kidnapped by the very villains involved in the attack on the street." Fumikage's eyes were wide in shock, slow to truly process the information. Arashi had a similar, albeit more tame, expression of shock as well.

"The reason I brought you here, Mr. Tokoyami, and had you attend as well Arashi, is because the kidnapper gave Ms. Asui instructions, or rather conditions that she is to adhere to so that here siblings are not harmed by these villains."

Arashi leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms, "Not liking where this going..." he muttered.

"The reason I brought you both here, is that, Young Tokoyami, the conditions that had been given to Ms. Asui also apply to you." Fumikage's shocked expression returned, Arashi scowling in turn. "It would seem, that on the day of the shooting, according to the villain that spoke with Ms. Asui, you and her overheard a conversation in the mall."

Fumikage looked at the desk in front of him. He definitely remembered what the principal was talking about, or at least he knew of who was conversing. "But, I don't even remember what they had said there!" he had looked back up at Nezu, who closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Ms. Asui stated the same thing, but she was informed that these villains decided they were not going to be taking any chances. So, they have placed conditions on Ms. Asui and yourself." Both Tokoyamis listened intently to the Principal as he continued. "You and Ms. Asui are to not speak about what happened at the mall, or speak about anything you may know about the villains. Breaking these conditions will result in injury to the younger Asui siblings."

Fumikage just stared at Nezu, mouth slightly agape as he tried to think of what to say or do. Arashi, took the chance to speak up though, giving his son the moment he needed to recover. "They only approached the Asuis? I haven't seen or heard anything suspicious so far. Think we may be targets as well?"

Nezu looked to Arashi, "While I will not say it is an impossibility, considering that the kidnappers applied the same conditions they gave to Ms. Asui to your son, I believe that they are planning to only use the Asui siblings as hostages."

Arashi nodded his head, looking over to Fumikage whose eyes had fallen to the floor in front of him. The teen was still wrestling around with the situation that had just been presented to him. So now, he had two children's well-being placed on his shoulders.

"Thank you, Nezu. For letting us, especially myself, know of the situation." his dad's voice broke Fumikage from his thoughts at the moment, who looked up at the older man before to Nezu.

"You are welcome. The police have already been informed and are investigating, though they have been warned that neither student can provide information without putting Asui siblings at risk." Arashi nodded his head, having looked at Nezu. "I will keep you both up to date on any changes that may occur."

"Thank you, Nezu." Arashi said as he then stood up, looking to Fumikage, who was a bit slower to stand.

"Y-Yeah," He bowed his head to the principal, "Thank you."

"You both are welcome. I do hope you will show up tomorrow, despite the pressing matter." Nezu said, Fumikage just nodding before Arashi also nodded his head to the principal.

"Good afternoon to you." he said, heading out of the room, though he stopped out in the hallway to wait for Fumikage to catch up to him. The two then began their walk out of the building, Fumikage eyes remaining on the floor as Arashi slipped his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

What the hell had happened? It was all Fumikage could think of at the moment. A trip to the mall to relax with friends, and now two kids were depending on him to not screw up and get them hurt. Crossing his arms, he walked quietly alongside his father.

Reaching the front, Fumikage looked up and around, frowning a bit when he noticed the lack of a vehicle. "Where did you park?" he asked, looking to his father.

"You know, where I usually do back home." his father said with a shrug, Fumikage blinking and just staring at him. His father smiled at him, "Hey, it's a nice day today and I figured I could enjoy the fresh air, get some exercise." The man began walking towards the bike racks, where Fumikage stored his. "Also eliminates having to finagle your bike into the car, which we both know is 'loads' of fun."

"Yeah..." Fumikage unlocked his bike from the stand, choosing to walk alongside his dad rather than ride for now. He was still in mild shock at the turn of events. How much things had apparently escalated over only three days. Sure, the USJ incident sure had been one hell of a situation to be thrown in, but there Fumikage could fight off the threats. He could do what he and Shadow did best and knock aside those foolish enough to threaten him.

This danger he couldn't touch however, and that was the part he was struggling to get a grip on. What the hell could he do now? He was training to become a hero, and yet right now he felt helpless. People depended on him, and the only thing he could do was to do nothing.

"It really is one of the worst parts about being a hero." Fumikage jerked his head up to his father when he spoke, the man having caught the look of confusion and anger that Fumikage had let slip through his usually stoic appearance. The teen watched his father, "Knowing that you are helpless to help the helpless. It just plain sucks."

Fumikage observed Arashi's face, somewhat jealous of the stoic appearance the older man could easily maintain. The tales of Shadow Legion, of his father's work as a hero, they had always been something Fumikage had loved when he was younger. They always made for good bedtime stories. Even now though, on quiet days he was always happy to listen to another story.

He knew though that despite the many stories he'd been told, Fumikage also knew there were some that his father purposefully kept to himself. It was that reason he could believe his father when he said he could sympathize with what the teen was feeling at the moment.

With a purse of his lips and sharp exhale through his lips, his father continued. "It's an aggravating part of being a hero though, having to sit back and just twiddle your fingers until an opportunity popped up. Sure, the goal was always to try and make one yourself, but sometimes..." he looked over to his son, "Sometimes the villains just don't give you that option, and then you're stuck waiting on them."

They looked at one another for a few moments before Fumikage looked on ahead. He frowned some, his mind settling on things he remembered hearing from many heroes as he grew up. Especially All Might, who always seemed to persevere despite the odds. A hero that always found a way out of a tight spot. "But, as heroes, shouldn't we always be striving to break through whatever walls the villains throw at us? To never accept the idea of defeat?"

"I never said to accept defeat. And your damn right, son." Arashi looked to Fumikage, a small smile on his face. "I said, you always look for opportunities, to never give up even when it seems like their aren't any options." he then looked ahead, his smile fading. "However, you need to accept that a plan, a strategy, a chance to save a person, they won't always come to you quickly. I'm just letting you know, Fumikage. So that you never feel like the villain has beaten you."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Arashi having been careful to make sure it wasn't the one that had been injured, the teen then looked up at him, "Like right now. I can see it on your face. " Fumikage suddenly looked away, glad at the moment that his feathers mostly hid the redness on his cheeks. He hated it when he let his emotions show, despite how hard he tried. "You need to just accept the fact that, at this moment, a chance hasn't shown itself, and to not let that weigh on you too much."

Giving Fumikage's shoulder a squeeze before removing the hand, he then returned it to his pocket. "Because if you start to feel like you can't do anything, you become desperate. And when you become desperate, you become careless. I don't think I need to tell you what happens when you start getting careless around an enemy."

Fumikage nodded his head, "Alright. Thanks Dad."

"It may have been a little over a decade since I've done hero work, but I ain't senile yet" Arashi said. "Got a memory like an elephant." he said, Fumikage rolling his eyes.

"Sure, father. Sure you do."

"I remember where all your baby pictures are. Oh, you were such an adorable little squirt, with your poofy head of down." He chuckled at the annoyed look his son threw his way. "Yeah,  _you_ remember that before you think about trying to poke fun at me."

"I hate you sometimes." Fumikage muttered.

"Well, Dark Shadow always make up for the lost love." He looked over to Fumikage, grinning as Dark Shadow emerged and rested himself on Fumikage's shoulder. "Ain't that right?"

"Aye aye." Shadow gave the older gentleman a thumbs up, Fumikage sighing.

"You two are just insufferable sometimes." The teen said as he put a hand to his face.

"I beg to differ. I think you can't get enough of us.. So much so you even lug around Shadow!" he grinned at the deadpan look Fumikage shot his way. "that's love right there."

"Insufferable." Fumikage just repeated, Arashi and Shadow both snickering. Their conversations grew into small talk as they walked along, Shadow eventually having retreated back into Fumikage. Their walk through a small market district had their progress slowing up, Arashi giving nods and waves here and there. Of course, he smiled as Fumikage seemed to garner a bit more attention, people simply greeting him while others congratulated him on his work in the Sports Festival.

"I only got third place." Fumikage muttered, though he was still polite enough to acknowledge people who greeted him, even if he'd wish they'd just go away.

"Third among forty-one other students." Arashi stated, "And you definitely gave off a good impression knocking out two contestants in less than five minutes. Don't worry though, they'll eventually leave you be."

"Hope so. Sure, nice to know people think I'm strong-"

"Are strong, Fumikage" Arashi interrupted.

With a bit of a frown, having looked to his father, he then continued. "But just hate all this attention."

"Well you'll be able to take less glamorous jobs and patrols once you get past the first year. Much less fame there. For better or worse."

"I think I'll take that opportunity." Fumikage said.

"Hey look! It's Tokoyami!" Fumikage narrowed his eyes in confusion at the exclamation, looking for the source before his eyes settled on the black eyes and pink face of Mina Ashido, who had a wide grin as she waved to him. Next to her, he could see the floating clothes of Hagakure, whose sleeve was raised in a manner that he figured she to was waving to him. He gave a small wave to them, nodding his head as well.

Arashi looked over at the two, who were now heading right towards them. Fumikage could only sigh again. Any other time he'd be ok with seeing some friends out of class, but alongside his father; well, there was no telling what the older man might do. "Didn't take them long to get out of school and to shopping, huh?" Arashi said, smile on his face.

"Well, if I remember correctly, they both only live a few blocks away from the academy." Both of them stopped walking as the two girls reached them, Hagakure with a slight bounce to her step.

"Hiya, Tokoyami!" she said, he could see her torso turn to face his father. "So, you prefer to hang out with people above our age group, eh?"

Tokoyami shook his head, Arashi bowing his head to both ladies in greeting. "Feel like 'friend' may be too strong a word." He looked at Fumikage, crossing his arms. "But I think we have ourselves a working relationship." Looking back to the girls, he uncrossed his arms. "I'm his father, actually. Tokoyami Arashi."

Mina's eyes widened with her grin, "Ashido Mina, it's nice to meet you! Tokoyami isn't one to talk much about his out-of-school-life." she then looked at Tokoyami.

Hagakure bowed to Arashi as well, "Hagakure Toru, sir! And yeah, it can be so difficult to get him to do anything outside of class with us sometimes."

Tokoyami scowled slightly, "I'm not that bad. I go out with you guys plenty."

"You have an odd definition of 'plenty', Tokoyami." Mina said, her turn to cross her arms. She then looked to Arashi, "Never thought we'd meet his parents, either."

"Yeah, he's been quite hesitant to introduce me to his friends." he said, looking to Fumikage who had now averted his gaze to a nearby stall. After a moments pause, Arashi then chuckled, "Which is probably for the better, actually. I've been told by him several times I can be pretty embarrassing. He isn't wrong."

"Well, I'm glad that we got such a chance to meet you!" Toru stated, looking at Fumikage. "You haven't gotten home yet?" she asked the bird-headed teen.

Fumikage shook his head, "Not yet. Father decided to show up at school, and rather than drive a car, choose to walk. Which means now we both gotta walk back."

"Well, I'd say it has paid off rather nicely, wouldn't you?" Arashi said, grinning at Fumikage.

"Sure, we'll go with that, father." Fumikage muttered.

"So, curiosity has me. He get Dark Shadow as a quirk from you or his mother?" Mina asked, looking up at Arashi. She missed the frown that Tokoyami now had, the bird-headed teen looking away.

Chuckling, Arashi shook his head, "Kinda. A little hard to explain, at least without being able to show it unfortunately. My quirk is more of a cloning thing, similar in vain to your teacher Ectoplasm."

"Really? That's cool." Toru said, "looking" at Tokoyami.

"Yeah, Dark Shadow has my clones beat though, at least when it comes to intelligence. Shadow's actually sentient, my clones just follow simple commands before fading away."

"Huh, well maybe sometime we can actually see it!" Mina blinked before bringing a hand to her chin, "Actually, I wonder if we'll ever get to meet the others' parents."

"That'd be cool! Though, I wonder what Bakugo's parents." They watched the invisible girl shudder, Tokoyami even seeming a little afraid of the idea.

"That's a terrifying thought." He said, Mina nodding her head.

"Well, I imagine you two probably want to get on home already! It was nice meeting you, Mr. Tokoyami!" Mina said, bowing her head to the older gentleman, Toru doing the same.

"Have a good afternoon you two." he said, nodding his head to them as they began to walk away.

"You too!" Mina exclaimed, waving to the two of them before she and Toru walked away into the crowd, talking still between one another.

Arashi looked back at them once more before ahead, "Yeah, can see why you want to keep me away from them. Can only imagine the teasing you'd get if I accidentally let loose some embarrassing stuff." he chuckled softly at the idea, Fumikage shuddering at the idea.

"Please, let's just avoid that. It's be the last thing I need." he responded, looking up at the sky as they kept walking.

"Yeah, don't want to ruin the dark and mysterious vibe you got going on, after all." Fumikage just shook his head, though even now he had a bit of a smile.

"Seriously, you know it's hard work to maintain it." he said, looking up to his father.

"I'll have to take your word on it, never was my style." Both of their attention was drawn to a loud crash up ahead, some people crying out in shock or fear, scattering away from something up ahead. Looking to Fumikage, Arashi then indicated to a spot where they could be out of the way of crowd that was quickly gaining momentum as they moved towards the two.

As the crowd thinned out enough for them to get a good look at the racket, they watched what seemed to be a fight of some kind breaking out further down the stands. Their first sight was to see a red-haired person, A man if Fumikage had to guess, winding back with a large pole he seemed to be wielding. His eyes widened in surprise as he watched another man get seemingly pulled towards the red-haired person only to then get smashed in the face by the club-like object the person was wielding.

They watched the unfortunate individual do a full backflip from the impact before finally flopping onto their back, their face badly beaten and broken with the person not moving at the moment. The red head then lifted the club, a smile crossing over their large lips before they slammed the end of it down onto the person face. Fumikage winced, averting his eyes as the club smashed into the downed man's face, crushing it under the heavy object.

"Think you fellas really need to learn your place. This ain't your town, so you best get leaving!" The red-head shouted, and though the feminine voice that came from them was unexpected, Fumikage was still in shock over the rather vicious kill he had just watched.

He then felt a hand grab the back of his blazer, Fumikage gasping in shock when he was suddenly yanked around a corner, his bike falling to the ground as he lost his grip. Looking to the aggressor, he relaxed realizing it was just his father who had moved out of sight, dragging the teen with him.

"We'll just stay put, alright?" Arashi said, looking around the corner before at Fumikage. "whatever is happening, they are fighting. We stay out of it unless they start going after pedestrians, ok?" Arashi looked to Fumikage, who seemed unsure.

"But, unless its self-defense, we both will get in trouble!" Fumikage said, glancing towards the corner as he could hear the sounds of fighting going on. Arashi looked at Fumikage for a moment, pursing his lips for a moment before looking back to the corner.

"Fair enough. I'll do that then. Wouldn't want you to be kicked out of UA by being a hero, after all." Arashi peeked around the corner, Fumikage shifting so he could do the same. People were still running away from the fight, whoever it was between. His eyes first caught sight of the man he'd watched be killed, their head having been smashed in, with no face to be recognized. The club wielding individual seemed to be fighting with someone else, and looking around Fumikage could see that there were several people involved in the fight.

Another person ran at the club wielding person, swinging at them with a pole they wielded, which seemed to crackle with small arcs of electricity. The attack was avoided, and the counter-attack from the red-head was also dodged in turn. Fumikage watched the the one with the electric-pole thrust their free hand out, watching an arc of electricity shoot out towards the red-head who dived out of the way.

The one with electricity then turned to parry a strike from another man who wielded dual sticks, the first strike having been parried where the second swing was then caught by the attacker's wrist being grabbed. Tokoyami then watched as the electric one seemed to unleash a torrent of electricity into the man, who began to scream and convulse.

It went on for a few moments before a knife slammed into the side of the electric man's head, causing them to go rigid for a moment before collapsing, the one who had been electrocuted crumpling to the ground, a singing and charred mess.

"Holy shit." Arashi muttered, Fumikage by this point having opted to cease watching. He just remained by his father's side, staying at the ready in case they did need to act. Rapid movement from around the corner caught his attention, watching a man in an green jacket dive over a stall, gunshots following and destroying parts of the stand that he ducked behind. The blonde haired individual didn't flinch despite the projectiles near him, a pistol of his own in his hand.

Arashi was watching the man like a hawk, just about to spring when the man caught sight of the Tokoyamis. "Wait, wait!" he called out, taking a moment to pop up and fire a shot back towards the fight before ducking down. Looking back to them, "Look, off-duty hero, ok?!" watching the two, he shifted a bit, again ignoring any projectiles that tore apart the cover he was sitting behind. "Wait, you two, or at least the bird-headed one look familiar."

Arashi rolled his eyes, "Fine, but introductions later! You have this handled?! We aren't licensed, so hands are a bit tied."

The man peeked around the corner for a moment before ducking back, looking towards them. "Yeah, I'll be alright. These guys are really bad shots anyways. Other heroes are mixed in as well!" The man cracked a smile, his blue-eyes meeting Fumikage's crimson ones. "Just stay back, we'll wrap this up real quick!"

The blonde peeked up over his cover, his next movement being him quickly diving out from it and in the direction of the Tokoyami's. Just as he cleared the stall, another stall that had been thrown through the air smashed into it, destroying both. Rolling up onto his feet, the blonde quickly slid to the corner Arashi had been standing, who had moved back to give the man room when he saw him approaching.

Chuckling, the blonde fired around the corner before looking to the two of them. "Thanks." he said, ejecting the long magazine from his pistol before pulling one from a harness he was wearing under his jacket and sliding it into place, the extended magazine hanging out an inch from the bottom of the hand grip. Fumikage's eyes settled on the pistol, watching the silver-slide snap forwards, meeting the black muzzle that had three smalls vents bored into its sides.

The blonde then looked to them, "Suggest getting on out of here at this point. We got this handled, and probably best to bail while you can do so safely." He pointed down the street they were on, away from the fighting. "Things should be clear that way. Have only run into the ones down the street and they are pinned down at the moment." he rounded the corner to fire a few shots before ducking back.

Arashi nodded his head to the man, "Alright, thanks. Best of luck to you, and don't get hit now." he said, flashing a smile at the man who returned it.

"Always try to avoid doing so." the blonde said, smiling back at them before returning his attention to the battle down the street, Arashi lightly pushing his son to get him to start moving.

"Let's go, Fumikage. We'll only end up in the way with us not being able to help." Fumikage nodded, the two of them quickly moving down the street, jogging as they went. The teen looked back down the street, worry now settling in as he hoped Hagakure and Ashido had gotten clear of the violence.

"Well, that was something, wasn't it?" Arashi said, looking at Fumikage who nodded his head. Watching him for a moment, he then looked forward. "Even if we did little, you still handled it well, Fumikage. Stayed calm, and didn't do anything rash." Fumikage went to speak, movement coming from an alleyway to his side catching his attention. His eyes widened as he realized it was another man wielding a gun, who was lifting up the firearm and aiming it straight at his father.

That was when he felt his forward momentum stop suddenly, getting lifted and carried out of the line of fire by an oily-black figure. The figure seemed to melt away then, Fumikage stumbling to a stop as he could see his father already closing in on the attacker. Firing another shot towards Arashi, the former hero had shifted out of the line-of-fire as well, though as he did Fumikage watched a clone of his father emerge from his body, it being the same color as the figure that had dragged him out of the way.

The bullet went through the clone that was bolting towards the gunman, not being affected by the shot before it delivered a hard punch across the man's face. As his head jerked to the side, the clone melting away, another clone was already at the side and punching the man's face as it twisted into it. The dual hits staggered the man, who was then grabbed around the waist, hoisted up into the air by his father who proceeded to slam the man into the ground, hard.

The gun fell from the attacker's hands, landing nearby while his father moved to get up over top of the man; another clone emerging from him to then run over and kick the firearm aside while his father delivered one more solid punch to the man's face, knocking him out cold.

The threat subdued, Arashi stood up, wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead while chuckling softly, quickly moving back to Fumikage. "Your old man's still got it!" he said, Fumikage smiling some and nodding his head. The two began moving once more away from the fight, Fumikage glancing back one more time, blinking in confusion when he noticed Dark Shadow hovering behind him, bike in hand, giving his host a thumbs up with the other.

Shaking his head, he thanked the animated shadow, listening to the sounds of fighting that were quickly becoming quieter and quieter as the three of them continued to create distance from the battle.

* * *

Now home, Fumikage collapsed into his chair in front of his computer, head falling backwards as he let out a heavy breath. Damn did it feel nice to sit down and relax, especially after the long walk and then running into  _another_  battle on the streets. He was just glad to be home at this point and just let any and all muscles go limp.

"Fumikage, stop being cursed and dragging us into fights. Especially when you have your bike." Dark Shadow said, moving to settle on the desk next to the computer screen.

"Oh shut up," Fumikage said, head still hanging back with his eyes closed. "But thanks for grabbing the bike though. Would have been pretty annoyed had that been left behind."

Humming in agreement, Dark Shadow moved to look at the computer screen, "Mina and Toru made it home ok, it seems."

Fumikage lifted his head up, looking at the group page, seeing confirmation that the two girls had gotten away from any of the fighting unscathed. They both gave a pretty good play-by-play of them getting away, but Fumikage was just happy to know they were fine. He did see his name mentioned in their paragraph, though, wondering how he was.

He figured he could alleviate any worry, sending out a quick message out to let his class know that he too was alright. He also decided to tease the two girls a bit, saying the missed seeing his dad's quirk in action.

With that out of the way, he then settled back into his chair, bringing his legs up so he could cross his arms on his knees and rest his chin there. as he looked over the page, he began to notice the other concerning issue, and that was questions regarding how Tsuyu was doing. That alone made his stomach twist into a knot as he recalled what Principal Nezu had told him today.

_"Last night, Ms. Asui's younger brother and sister were kidnapped by the very villains involved in the attack on the street. You...are to not speak about what happened at the mall, or speak about anything you may know about the villains. Breaking these conditions will result in injury to the younger Asui siblings."_

His eyes lowered to settle on the desk in front of him, any relief he might have felt from him, Mina, and Toru escaping unscathed fading away to be replaced with a mixture of both guilt, and as much as he hated to admit it, fear.

He knew it wasn't his fault technically that the two had been kidnapped, but thinking that had he not chosen to sit right there in the food court, He, and especially Tsuyu, wouldn't have this issue dangling over them, like his own personal sword of Damocles ready to come crashing down on him.

He sighed heavily, turning his head so that his face was hidden in his arms. "Damn Shadow, what hell hell am I going to do?"

* * *

Principal Nezu took a sip from his tea, looking at the various papers they lay in front of him on his desk, sitting in his office during the morning hours of school. It was a bit worrisome, to say the last, looking over the information written on all of them. Looking at various conflicts that had erupted between unidentified groups, popping up with no real inclination as to why, it was certainly worrisome. Though there had been no official names said yet, he felt he could safely infer who the two sides were, the League of Villains that had been a rapidly rising concern, and then the more mysterious group that had been responsible for the kidnapping of the younger Asui siblings.

Normally the idea of two villain groups being at each others throats would be nice to hear, but this time it only meant that there was a rapidly rising threat of villains in general. Not to mention, nobody had any idea why they were fighting, what their goals were, and where they may show up. Instead, authorities and heroes were simply forced to try and quickly react to the conflicts and keep collateral damage at a minimum, and hopefully capture some for interrogation purposes.

Looking to a photo of a street that had just yesterday afternoon seen a rather violent skirmish, he took another sip of his drink as he read the headline, "On the Brink of War Between Villains?" It was starting to look that way, and not knowing the reason for the violence was bothering him the most. All he could deduce at the moment was that it had something to do with whatever the mystery group of villains were concerned about Asui Tsuyu or Tokoyami Fumikage talking about.

Of course, neither could really be pressed for information regarding what they might have heard, though both certainly claimed they had no idea what was actually going on. Nezu could at the very least gather that it meant the mystery group was after something important that the League had, though that helped very little all-in-all.

The phone to his office suddenly ringing drew his attention away, the principal setting his drink down and picking it up. "Principal Nezu of UA High School." He was only quiet for a moment before nodding his head. "Understood, be there in a few." Pressing the switch of the phone, he then pressed one of the speed-dial buttons and brought the phone back to his ear. It was fortunate the villains had decided to call them during school hours, though he felt it was less fortune and was actually planned.

It only took one ring before the phone was answered, "Aizawa, the police have just received a call from our mystery group of villains, and we are being permitted to join in on the call, and they have requested Miss Asui and Mr. Tokoyami's presence if possible, as well. Seems they have a new offer for us."


	4. Chapter 4

"Baby doncha hear my heart, You got it drowning out the radio," Samidare sat quietly against the bars of his and his sister's cell, keeping hold on a sleeping Satsuki who clung to him in return. Right now his eyes were settled on the singing guard, who had his legs resting up on the table in front of him, bobbing a leg to the tune coming from a radio he had sitting on the table.

"I've been waiting so long for you to come along and have some fun." Despite their situation, Samidare could at least say this was about the best it had been so far. The one singing had, surprisingly, been rather easy on the two kids. Seemed far nicer than some of the other guards who had been watching them.

"And I gotta let you know no you're never gonna regret it." The only intimidating about him was the scar that traced along his chin, as well as the metallic-gauntlets that covered his hands and forearms. Otherwise, he seemed a bit cheerier than the others the two siblings had dealt with so far.

"So open up your eyes I got a big surprise it'll feel all right, well I want to make your motor run." The man brought up a cigarette to his mouth, lighting it up and then setting the lighter down on the table.

"I have to say, it's strange seeing an Irishman singing along to Meatloaf of all things." A more intimidating and distorted voice spoke, coming from the other guard who was sitting in the room. No part of his skin could be seen, as his body was covered head-to-toe in a suit that reminded Samidare of hazmat suits that he'd seen in random shows or games, except the man's suit was much more heavily armored and had tubes coming from his back, travelling down his arms and then ending in his palm. The helmet as well was formed to the man's head rather being the bulky type he'd seen. Samidare had no idea exactly what was in the tubes, but he had to admit that at least the dull green glow they gave off was surprisingly soothing.

Having been interrupted from his singing, the red-headed man looked over to the more heavily armored man. If Samidare was remembering correctly, the man in the suit had been referred to as Radamaniac, which if he wasn't decked out in the scary looking suit, Samidare would have chuckled at. "What's wrong with Meatloaf, now?" he asked, breathing out a puff of smoke as he held the cigarette between his index and middle finger.

The chuckle that came from Rad sounded painful with the distorted way it came through the speaker on the front of his mask. "Not a fuckin' thing, just saying that listening to an Irish fella with the name Prizefighter singing along to one of his songs is strange." He leaned back against the wall he was near, "Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of some of his songs too."

Prizefighter chuckled, taking a drag of his cigarette, "You'd be surprised at the kinda songs that'll play in a gym when yer working out. Besides, ain't an odd thing for music to travel. Good ol' Michael Jackson was a big fella in Japan."

"Fair enough, though I gotta say, I'm preferable to Billy Joel myself. Mom played that shit all the time around us kids, so ended up just fallin' in love with 'im."

"Now that's a smart lady there," the red-head pointed to Rad, "Piano Man is always a good cool-down song for me." he chuckled alongside Rad once again, returning the cigarette to his mouth once finished.

Samidare quickly looked away when Rad had turned to look at him and his sister, though the boy couldn't actually see the guard's face through the face-plate that covered his features. "You think they are still popular stuff here?"

Prizefighter raised an eyebrow, "Still?"

Rad shrugged as he looked back, "Well Doc said this place is pretty far ahead of us, even if it's still Japan."

"Hm..." leaning back and putting his hands behind his head, "Good question actually." He then looked over to Samidare and Satsuki, the young girl shifting some due to the noise. " 'ey kid. Know anything about what we're talking 'bout?"

Samidare jerked his head up to look at the two guards, not having been expecting them to talk to him. He quickly adopted a neutral face again, trying his best to put on as strong a front as he could. "Um...can't say I know any of those...singers? I mean, I only know of meatloaf as a type of food, so..." he trailed off, earning a chuckle from the two men.

"You and thousands of other people when he first showed up on the singing scene." Prizefighter said, stuffing out the cigarette on the table. "Well, guess it's our job, or at least mine, to get ya up to date on them then."

Radamaniac shook his head, "Yeah, exactly why Wesley put us on guard duty for these two, so that we could familiarize them with classics of the music genre."

"And it is a job I'm happy to do."

"You need to accept the idea that we are not going to be able to keep things as quiet as you want to." a new voice spoke up, though it was muffled as it was coming from outside of the room. Samidare sat up some, pulling Satsuki against him tighter when she whimpered slightly in her sleep. The two guards had turned to look to the door as well, giving a quick glance to one another before back to the door.

Samidare could see through the bars the door opening to reveal two men walking into the room. He immediately recognized the blond haired individual, considering he had been one of the people who had kidnapped the two siblings, who seemed to be frustrated at something. Next to him walked a younger individual, who currently had their arms crossed behind their back.

The younger individual seemed to be a mix of both disheveled and orderly, the man's black hair just a mess of locks and curls with no real order to them, hidden among them being a pair of goggles peeking out. It contrasted with the more orderly clothing he wore, with a white jacket that covered his whole torso and hung just past his waist. An apron covered the front of it, and it came down just to above the man's knees, it blending in with his black trousers.

Prizefighter turned to look at the two entering, lowering his legs from the table they'd been resting on. He didn't say anything though when the blonde haired man raised a hand, Prizefighter just shrugging and going back to lounging.

"Now that we've actually made contact with the League, this is going to escalate quite rapidly. It is not even a fault of Croaker's attack at the mall, there was no chance they'd just roll over." the apron-wearing man continued.

The blonde haired man frowned, stopping in front of the children's cell, Samidare quickly looking away when their eyes met. "I know Doc, I know." he turned to look back at the man he'd called Doc, though he glanced to Prizefighter for a moment. "Could you turn that music down?" the guard nodded, pressing a button on the radio next to him and silencing the music.

"Then the fuck we keepin' hold of these kids for? Been wastin' our time on them and now suddenly we're goin' with them bein' useless?" Radamaniac asked, moving so that he was no longer leaning against the wall.

"I second that question," this time it was Croaker who stepped into the room, having been following Doc and the other man. "We took the time to nab them, then you bound up the sister, blabbed to her for some ten minutes, then have us drag their asses back here and keep watch on them. And now yer telling us that the trip was fucking pointless?"

The blonde looked at Croaker approaching, his frown turning into a scowl. "It wasn't wasted, you fuck-brain. How about thinking outside the box for a change?" Croaker scowled back.

"Fine then Wesley, what's next?"

Wesley turned to face him completely, "You really are as smart as a toad, aren't you? It's called a 'change in plans.' " He then turned to look back at the two kids, eyes settling on Satsuki as she began to wake from the noise. "I know how hard they are for you to grasp."

"Fuck you! You say you need me, and then keep bashing me every chance you get." Croaker walked up behind the man, glaring at him, "So the fuck you drag me here for if I'm such an idiot?"

Samidare watched as Wesley turned again, the two men locking gazes with one another. Croaker stood strong for a moment, but he quickly backed up some, any aggression seeming to be smothered under the other's gaze. "I didn't bring you along to make strategies, you shit-munching-numb-nuts. You're here because you happen to actually be useful muscle. And only because you are more muscle to make use of." Croaker took a step back as Wesley turned completely to face the toadish man.

"So be a good muscle, and listen to the actual fucking brains of this operation." Croaker maintained his sneer, but he seemed to have finally backed off. Wesley looked at the others in the room, Doc seeming to be the only one not averting their eyes from the man's stare. "As I said, change in plans." He looked back to the kids in front of him, "These brats still have a use as collateral."

Doc looked to the kids, Satsuki having woken up by this point and having pressed herself as much as she could against Samidare, who met Doc's eyes while moving slightly to place himself between the two, despite the bars between them. Doc scoffed, looking back to Wesley, "Collateral how?"

"Keep the fucking heroes off our asses." He looked to Doc now. "Go call up the pigs, and fuck it, whatever other hero will fucking listen."

"UA then?"

"Guess they'll get the heads up any how, so sure." Wesley then began to walk back towards the door, looking between Radamaniac and Prizefighter. "Grab the brats and get them out here." The two guards nodded, though Samidare kept his eyes on Doc who had looked back at the two of them, a small smile on his face. "Seltzer." Wesley said, having stopped to look at the man, who in turn looked back.

"Remember what I said. Unnecessary harm is returned ten-fold. Want to find out what it's like to be fucked in the ass with a one-foot blade?" Doc looked away for a moment, nodding his head before following after Wesley.

"No, I haven't forgotten." he said, Wesley watching him before looking at the two guards once more, nodding his head to the kids before heading out. Rad and Prizefighter both stood up, moving towards the cell while Croaker remained there, arms crossed and still looking somewhat annoyed.

Prizefighter held a hand out to Rad when they reached the door, "Just sit here, catch'em if they run alright?" Rad just nodded his head, stepping back as Prizefighter then opened up the cell, standing at the doorway and looking at the two kids. "Come on now. Make it easy for all of us, alright?" he said, Samidare watching the man before looking to his sister.

"Come on, sis." he said, slowly standing up, hoisting his sister up to carry her. As much as Samidare might like to resist, one look at the two guards reminded him how out classed he was compared to them.

* * *

His hand was curled into a fist, resting against his chin as Tokoyami leaned his elbow against the door as he stared out the window of the car, absently watching the blurred imagery of passing buildings.

Usually he'd ride his bike to school, enjoying the warm summer days, despite the gothic vibe he often gave off, and the wind passing through the feathers on his face always felt great. It was relaxing, soothing, and also helped as light exercise for warming up for class.

Today though, he just didn't have it in him to ride to school. So here he sat, in the passenger seat of the car as his father drove him to UA. He'd caught his dad off guard with the request, but the former hero didn't have anything he needed to do that morning, so he was happy to drive Fumikage to school.

Looking to his feather-headed son, Arashi then looked back to the road. "So, any idea what's in store for you today?" he asked, simply trying to break the silence. "I mean, the finals were last," he paused as he thought, "Thursday, wasn't it? So what is it that they have you doing?"

Fumikage didn't look to his father, "From what I've gathered, this week is honestly for General Studies and Support Courses. Guess they spread out the finals of the various courses, since they need teachers for whatever test they might have."

"So what have you hero courses been up to?"

"Review stuff, and preparation for the Summer Training Camp." Fumikage said, going back to being quiet right afterwards.

Arashi glanced to his son once more, knowing full well what was still on his boy's mind. He let the silence take over for the rest of the trip, which was only a few more minutes as he pulled up away from the gate. He looked to the large building, smiling some before looking to his son stepping out of the car.

"See you later, Fumikage."

Fumikage nodded his head, "You too, father." was all he said as he began to walk towards the gate. Before he made it to far, he was stopped by Arashi calling out to him.

"Fumikage, come here for a moment." Arashi called out, Fumikage glancing back, then around before heading over to the driver side door, where his dad had rolled down the window.

"Son, I know it's hard, but remember all you need to do is not talk about what happened at the mall, ok? The Pros and Police are taking care of this matter, your part is only to keep quiet." Fumikage frowned, looking off to the side.

"Don't worry, alright? You won't accidentally say anything that'll get those kids hurt. I know you are smart enough to easily avoid the topic, and in doing so, do your part as a hero-in-training. Ok?" Arashi just watched his son, who was still looking to the ground.

He knew his father was just trying to lighten the burden he felt, but Fumikage was having a hard time just pushing it aside. He wasn't even sure why he couldn't just stop thinking about it, which in a way was only compounding on the frustration he was feeling.

Finally looking to Arashi, Fumikage only nodded his head. "Alright, I'll try." was all he said to Arashi. "See you later, father." He then turned and began walking towards the gate, his father watching his son walk off.

He only sighed, feeling just as miserable watching his son struggle with the matter. He knew that this was something Fumikage would need to develop a coping method for on his own, but that didn't make watching the teen struggle any less harder though.

Said teen walked along the pathway, eyes up high enough that he could at least see where he was going, but still his gaze was focused on the ground. Glancing up at the approaching gate, he stopped as he watched the gleaming panes of glass that made up much of the Building's exterior.

This is a part of being a hero, he told himself. "Come on, Fumikage. You'll be ok. Just like dad said, you won't get them hurt, I know it." he said to himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before exhaling while opening his eyes.

He was about to start walking once more, but a voice calling out to him from behind caught his attention. Turning, he nodded in greeting to Shoji and Kirishima who were both walking towards him.

"Funny to see you here so early." Shoji said, Fumikage beginning to walk alongside the other two.

Fumikage nodded his head, "Yeah, had my father drop me off today."

Kirishima raised an eyebrow, "Something wrong with your bike? I swear I don't think I've seen you without it so far, least leaving school that is."

Fumikage went silent, looking to the red-head, where he noticed that Kirishima still had bruising on the bridge of his nose, though it had mostly faded away. Not wanting to really explain why he had decided to not ride his bike, he just nodded his head. "Yeah, chain snapped yesterday. Going to get it replaced tonight."

"Well that sucks. Least you get to chat with us this morning though!" Eijiro stated with a grin, which Fumikage found a bit infectious, giving a smaller smile in return.

"Indeed." Fumikage watched the other two for a moment, now going silent as he wasn't really sure what else to say. He quickly looked forwards, just to avoid staring awkwardly at the others.

"So, is your shoulder feeling all better?" Fumikage looked back to Shoji who had asked the question.

Kirishima nodded his head, looking back to the bird-headed teen. "Good question, it did look like a pretty mean pain to deal with."

Glancing to the previously injured shoulder, Fumikage shrugged before speaking. "It's feeling good now. Recovery Girl said that it healed cleanly, though she did warn me that it may start to become an issue when I'm older."

Drawing in a sharp breath, Kirishima winced. "Owch, that really sucks. Sorry that happened, man."

Giving a lackadaisical shrug, Fumikage looked to him, "Well, at least I can still use it, so I'll be happy for that."

It certainly was relieving to know it would, for the most part, be back to normal. Though she lead with telling him that it would heal ok, she did also warn him that the only reason it hadn't been more permanently damaged was simply because the bullet had gone clean through him rather than get stuck or shred whatever it hit by deforming.

Watching Kaminari, his eyes once more settled on the bruise on his nose. "Sometimes wish I had your quirk, that way I could have escaped that mayhem with only some bruises."

He watched Kirishima's gaze fall, the red-head turning to look ahead. A hand came up to rub the back of his head, him giving a half-hearted chuckle in response.

"Yeah, I did get lucky in that regard." Watching the ground for a moment, then glancing to Shoji before back to Fumikage. "Though, was talking with Shoji about it before we ran into you." He stopped for a moment, having lowered his hands now.

Fumikage raised an eyebrow, eyeing the usually spry peer as he seemed caught up in some ugly thoughts. Fumikage could simply tell by the look on the other's face.

"I hate to admit it, but honestly the bruises..." he paused again, "Well, they kinda freak me out whenever I see them."

Fumikage's brow furrowed as he listened, head cocked to the side slightly. Though he had a possible suspicion about why, he still felt like asking. "Why?"

Kirishima took a deep breath before letting out a harsh exhale, all of them having now continued to walk, "Because, the only reason that guy didn't kill me is because of my quirk." He glanced over at Fumikage before back ahead.

"You know? It feels weird, to be that freaked out by them. Didn't feel like this back as USJ when the villains showed up. Hell, I felt, and still feel, pretty exhilarated looking back."

He looked to the entrance to the building, nodding his head to Shoji who was holding it open for the other two students. "Me and Bakugo wrecked whoever we came across! When we caught up with Todoroki and Midoriya, even then I still felt excited. Sure, that brain-dude had me hesitating, but when the skinnier guy came at us I was more than ready."

"So, it just bugs the hell outta me, knowing how freaked out these bruises make me feel. Going through USJ and feeling the thrill I had, and then one dude has me shaken up." Kirishima then looked to Fumikage. "I don't get it, and I hate that."

Fumikage watched the stairs as they began to climb them, making their way to the second floor where their classroom was. He was feeling two very different emotions at the moment; one of them was a sense of relief knowing that he wasn't the only one who felt so put off by the fight. The second was guilt, just for feeling better at knowing of Kirishima's plight.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a heavy sigh, he decided that maybe he could ease Kirishima's anxiety by telling him his own thoughts. It took a few moments though to work up the courage, just because Fumikage was really unaccustomed to expressing his feelings.

Finally he was able to get himself to speak, "Honestly, Kirishima," the red-head looked to Fumikage, "I've been feeling the exact same." This drew a surprised look from Kirishima.

"Seriously, man? I mean, you kept fighting despite your shoulder wound."

Fumikage shrugged his backpack further up his shoulders, if only to give himself a moment to think of his response. "Well, Dark Shadow is not limited by my own physical capabilities, or at least to a certain degree. Thing is though, you didn't see how I got the injury."

He glanced to the other two students before continuing, "I attacked the guy before he even knew I was there. I lashed out with Dark Shadow, sure that I was going to catch him." he shook his head, "That guy not only avoided being hit, but before I could even react to attack a second time, I'd already been shot by him."

"Damn..." was all Kirishima could think to say. By now, they had all stopped outside of the large doors that lead to the classroom.

"Indeed. The speed in which things occurred, well it puts my mind in turmoil when I think of it, Kirishima." Fumikage looked to the other, whose surprised expression had vanished by this point, instead it was replaced by what seemed to be the teen pondering.

"I get you on that then." he looked to Fumikage, a small grin appearing back on his face. Fumikage had no idea how the other teen could smile like that despite how heavy a topic they had just discussed. If he was being honest, it was something he envied about the Sturdy Hero.

"Well, it does make me feel better to know that I ain't the only one who was freaked out by that fight." he chuckled some, before looking up at Shoji, who had been following them silently the whole time. Nervously rubbing the back of his head, Kirishima's chuckle betrayed his guilty feelings as well. "Sorry you kinda got dragged into this hard stuff, Shoji."

Shoji shrugged, "No reason to apologize, either of you." he looked between them. "I wasn't there, and frankly I think it's better you got it off your chests." He started walking towards the classroom now,

"And if it makes you feel a little better," he stopped to look at them, "Some of the others can relate a bit to what happened, my self included."

He walked into the classroom, despite the surprised looks Kirishima and Fumikage both had. Following the tall, multi-armed teen inside, Kirishima was the one who spoke up. "Wait, what do you mean?" he asked as Fumikage followed them inside, glancing around to see that as of now only Momo and Uraraka were there, talking to each-other at Momo's desk.

Shoji sat himself at his desk, Kirishima sitting in one of the adjacent chairs while Fumikage sat up on top of the desk, before continuing, "Watching all of you guys disappear when that warping villain had teleported you was, honestly, terrifying."

"Sure I found out a little later that all of you were still in the building, but still for those few moments we had no idea what had happened." Shoji shrugged, "Honestly, first thing that went through my mind was that all of you might have just been killed in front of me. And then watching Thirteen be so gravely injured, well that wasn't any easier."

The other two just stared at Shoji, both at a loss for words. For Kirishima, it was just surprising to hear something like that from probably one of the most intimidating people in their classroom.

As for Fumikage, he was simply surprised that Shoji could so easily admit such feelings, and didn't seem to really be bothered by it.

"That's heavy." Kirishima said, sitting up some in his seat. "How'd you keep that to yourself so long, man?"

Shoji looked to Kirishima, "I didn't. I ended up approaching Aizawa-sensei about it. He was able to point me in the right direction to get some help with getting a grip on it. As you can tell, he's not going to let the whole classroom know."

Kirishima nodded his head, leaning his chin on one of his fists with his elbow propped up on the top of the desk. "Huh, well, thanks for letting us know, Shoji." he watched the other student, "Guess I should just man up and ask someone who can help me deal with it."

Shoji nodded his head, using a formed mouth on the end of a tentacle to speak, "I'd say it's a good idea, even if only to get yourself going in the right direction." An ear was then raised up on another tentacle, Shoji looking to Fumikage.

"You may want to get off the desk, Iida is right down the hallway. I imagine you could probably do without a scolding from our Class President after all."

Nodding his head, Fumikage hopped off the desk just as said teen came walking through the door, followed by Izuku as they chatted. Today was not a day where he wanted to deal with Iida's condemnations.

He made his way over to his own desk, setting his bag down next to it before taking a seat. As he did so, he exhaled heavily before crossing his arms and closing his eyes. At this point, he was more than ready to get underway with class, if only to be a distraction from his own thoughts.

"Tsuyu!" Fumikage heard Uraraka announce, his crimson eyes snapping open and looking to the door where he could see Uraraka, Izuku, and Mina huddled around said frog-girl. He sat up, hands now resting on his thighs as he watched them.

From his position, Fumikage could see the normal stoic appearance that Tsuyu almost always had. He did note however that is seemed rigid, like she was consciously trying to maintain the appearance. He wasn't sure if he was just imagining it or not, given that right now he really wasn't close enough to really tell.

The group talked to Tsuyu, where he could hear her being asked if she was alright, where she had been yesterday, essentially trying to gauge how she was feeling at the moment. Tsuyu gave them simple answers to her condition, though she seemed to have evaded why she had been absent.

"Well alright." Mina said, though even she sounded somewhat unconvinced. She moved to sit at her desk, Tsuyu moving to her's as well while Izuku and Uraraka followed.

"I didn't miss anything important, did I?" Tsuyu asked, looking to the others.

Mina shook her head, crossing her arms on the back of her chair while letting out a huff. "No, just more boring review stuff." she groaned in annoyance, glancing to the front board. "I don't know why we gotta be here still, all our exams are done!"

"Just let us relax until the damn Summer Camp..." she moaned out while sinking down into her chair.

"Well, it never hurts to get brushed up on some things." Izuku said, looking between Mina and Tsuyu, "Gotta keep things we did at the start of the term as fresh as possible when the next one rolls around, ya know."

Mina's response was to stick her tongue out and blow a raspberry.

Tsuyu just shook her head, now turning to glance around the classroom at the others. When her eyes met Fumikage's, all he could suddenly feel was the sensation of his chest tightening, all his previously dispelled anxiety smashing back to the fore-front of his thoughts.

He quickly broke away from her gaze, his eyes settling on the floor. He did his best to maintain his own stoic appearance, but even he could tell that his face betrayed him, displaying some of the guilt he was feeling.

"Dammit all..." he muttered under his breath, arms crossed tightly over his chest as if to shield from any other unwanted emotions. He hardly noticed the rest of the class filtering into the room, his attention now solely locked onto the floor.

"Everyone shut up, class is starting." came the dull voice of their homeroom teacher, somehow getting through the haze Fumikage had found himself in. He looked up at the man, everyone else quieting down and settling into their seats.

Once they had, Aizawa continued. "Good, right now things start simple." again, Fumikage's attention began to fade as the teacher began to go over their itinerary for the day. He did catch word about some field exercises, which he actually felt relieved to hear. Some physical activity should probably help relieve him of the tension he was feeling.

The sound of something ringing snapped him back to the real world, Fumikage's eyes darting around to get a grasp on what was going on. He then realized it was Aizawa-sensei on the phone. Everyone was watching the teacher, who was silent as he listened to whoever was on the other end.

The narrowing of his eyes made some of the students shift uncomfortably, because that was a look that was never good to see. "Understood." he said, hanging up the phone. "Bit change in plans. Midnight is going to take over." Fumikage's body went rigid when Aizawa's eyes settled on him.

"Tokoyami Fumikage," he then turned to look at Tsuyu, "Asui Tsuyu. You two need to accompany me." he then turned to the door, ignoring the confused and concerned looks the other students had at the moment. Both Fumikage and Tsuyu looked around, both a little concerned and just as confused.

Not wanting to anger Aizawa, or whoever had been on the phone with him, Fumikage gulped and stood up before heading for the door to follow. Tsuyu was not far behind, though he could hear Mina speak, saying she would give a prayer for them.

Fumikage felt that they may actually need it.

* * *

The two students walked side-by-side, quietly following after their homeroom teacher. He didn't hide from them what they were going too, and Tokoyami would be lying if he said he wasn't a little on edge. Tsuyu held her neutral expression, Tokoyami wondering if she was as nervous on the inside as he was.

The walk was short, and Aizawa opened the door and immediately walked in, waiting for the two students to follow after him before shutting the door. They were greeted by the sight of the principal, Snipe, and Ectoplasm looking towards a screen. All three turned to look at the new arrivals before back to the screen, where Tokoyami could see a blonde haired individual sitting in a swivel style chair, leaned back with a single hand behind his head.

His eyes also caught sight of the holstered pistol under his arm, along with the several spare magazines for it; the man's other hand was occupied by a knife he was twirling around between his fingers and then casually tossing up into the air.

Tokoyami's eyed widened for a moment before narrowing into pin-pricks, a deep scowl forming across his beak as he quickly realized, the man was the "off-duty" hero that he and his father had ran into just yesterday. Different clothes sure, but Fumikage recognized the face, and he could even recognize the extended magazine of the pistol he had.

What also caught his, and especially Tsuyu's, immediate attention was the sight of her little siblings near the back of the room, flanked by the red-head they both had seen at the mall. Near the door sat Radamaniac, tapping his foot. Currently they were the only three villains any of them could see.

In the corner of the screen, Tokoyami saw a smaller picture-in-picture of a couple individuals in suits. It took him a moment to also notice the police officer located in the back of the room for the small picture, probably because the large dog-looking individual was the most apparent among them.

"Well, if ain't the lucky-duckling from the street fight!" The blonde haired man suddenly spoke up, looking directly at Tokoyami as he leaned forwards. A smile crossed his lips, "In case you were wondering, I was also the guy who wrecked your shoulder some," he paused, looking off for a moment, "five-six days ago." looking back to the teen, who in turn was scowling.

"You're a lucky shit you know that. Could only get a bead on your shoulder at that time, and then you fell back behind the bus. Especially lucky I had just shot the plasma blaster, or else you'd be one cooked turkey." he chuckled some, tossing his knife in the air before catching it and twirling it among his fingers.

"Also, was funny running into you yesterday too. Whoever the older guy with you was, could you tell him thank you from me for giving me a place to take cover? Was very nice of him." All eyes settled on Tokoyami, who shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny. No one asked him though of what Wesley had been referring to.

The acknowledgment of the new-comers to the call did catch the attention of the Asui siblings, little Satsuki's eyes lighting up when she noticed Tsuyu in the room. "Tsuyu!" she called out, going to move away from Samidare and forwards. A metal covered hand softly gripping her shoulder stopped her, drawing the young girl's attention to Prizefighter's face, who shook his head.

He let go of her and gestured for her to back up, "Just stay put, alright?" he said to her. Satsuki looked back towards her big sister for a moment before moving to hug a stone-faced Samidare once again, the red-headed man re-crossing his arms and looking back to the screen as well.

Wesley had turned his head to look, chuckling before looking back forwards. "Seems they miss their big sis." he said, leaning back in his chair.

"How about we get to the subject at hand?" spoke one of the suited men in the smaller picture. "Why are you contacting us?"

"Not even going to ask my name? For fuck's sake I thought we could be somewhat cordial with one another, but fine, be that way."

"Then how about we all introduce ourselves," Nezu spoke up. "I am Nezu, Principal of UA Academy. These are teachers and pro-heroes Snipe, Ectoplasm, and Earaserhead."

"Yeah, I remember scruffy there." the man pointed to Aizawa. "Least I got a name now for the one hero who I didn't wreck. Props to you, by the way." Aizawa didn't respond nor emote in anyway.

"I'm chief of police Tsuragamae Kenji." The dog-headed man spoke.

The blonde haired man smiled, his eyes now settling on both Tsuyu and Fumikage, who stood back behind their teachers. He interrupted the rest of those on the police line "I already know your names, so no need to worry about that." he looked off for a moment in thought, "Actually, I know her name." he pointed at Tsuyu.

"You," he said then pointing at Fumikage once again, "You, I'm just gonna keep calling whatever the fuck I feel like. This is too good a chance to make use of the hella-fuck-ton of bird puns I have stored away, and I can not let this opportunity slip by."

Tokoyami's scowl didn't seem to have much effect on the man. "I can't promise they'll all be gems, but I'm not famous for my wit anyways. Also, my name is Wesley Gibson."

"So what is it you wanted to speak with us about, Mr. Gibson?" Nezu asked, leaning onto the table in front of him, palms pressed together.

Wesley turned his attention to Nezu, "Well, my situation, as you can probably guess, has been developing quite rapidly, to the point that my previous arrangement with the frog and the grumpy wood-pecker there has become partially pointless. Which by the way, " he once again looked to Tsuyu and Fumikage, "Deal still stands, just adding some parts to it is all. And don't fret, not going to count this as a strike against you. I'm not that big an asshole. Well, anymore."

" 'Adding,' how?" the police chief asked, drawing Wesley's attention to him.

"I really did want to keep things calm and quiet," Wesley started, now beginning to spin in circles on his chair, "but as I've been learning really quickly, that's starting to become an impossibility, as our occasional scuffles with the League of Butt-Fuckers are becoming," he paused, knife ceasing its movements in his hand while he also ceased his spinning with a foot resting atop the keyboard, "Well, becoming more than just scuffles. I mean before even this call, and despite the zipper I placed on their lips, you've all already figured out I ain't with the League of Shit-Wads."

Wesley sighed, spinning the knife in his hand for a moment before casually tossing it behind himself, the blade spinning through the air before embedding into the wall just above Samidare's head, who had flinched away from it where it hit, also moving to shield Satsuki.

Prizefighter had shifted slightly away from the knife, though to Fumikage's surprise, Tsuyu had remained stationary despite the action; he could however see that her hands had clenched into tight fists, though they remained out of sight of the villain on the screen.

"When I say I wanted to keep things quiet, I genuinely mean it. I was trying to not attract the attention of police or heroes. The League of Ass-Clowns are the only ones I intended to pick a fight with, and then things just had to get complicated; between tweedle-dee and tweedle-duck eavesdropping, me having to break Croaker out of police custody, and now all this fighting my boys are getting wrapped up in, clearly things are teetering towards a tipping point."

"So!" Wesley suddenly scooted his chair forwards to lean into the camera. "I got a compromise for us. Me and ma boys are gonna try to keep collateral down, and we are only picking fights with the League of Fudge-Packers. In return, you bunch of butt holes are to stay out of our affairs."

Leaning back, he waved a hand about in a dismissive manners as he continued. "Of course, not expecting you to not try and rescue people in trouble and blah, blah, blah. But our fights," he gestured to himself, "As in, us and the others, you stay outta it."

"You are asking for us to not intervene in battles between two groups of fugitives to apprehend them and end our problems all together?" Kenji asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no. I'm  _telling_  you to not intervene in battles between two groups of fugitives to apprehend them and end all your problems." Wesley said, his tone dropping. "Because next time," he then pointed back towards the knife still stuck in the wall while his eyes remained on the screen. "That's going to hit half-a-foot lower." he returned his hand to in front of him.

"I'm giving you douche-bags a fucking gift here. I don't give a fuck about any of you. The League has something I want, and once I have that we are done here. So take the opportunity to let two groups you hate beat the living fuck out of one another, and just stay back far enough to save the unlucky shits who didn't get out of the way in time."

The silence was heavy as the three groups watched one another, Wesley waiting for a response while the police and UA faculty formulated one. Nezu broke the silence, "How about a gesture of trust then from you?" his question getting a raised eyebrow from Wesley.

"If you give back the two children you have there, then I think we can work with this compromise." Many eyes settled on the Principal, who kept his own locked onto Wesley.

Wesley shook his head though, "No, not how this works. They'll stay here, to function as the poster children for what happens when you stick your fucking nose where it isn't wanted, should it be necessary."

"Then it feels like the word 'compromise' is being miss-used, in this situation." a new voice boomed in, all eyes settling on the massive form of All-Might as he stepped into the room, gently shutting the door behind himself before stepping into view. Tsuyu and Fumikage both looked to one another for a moment, before back to the number one hero and then on Wesley.

The villain's icy gaze settled on All Might as he stopped in full view, standing right behind Nezu. He let out a low whistle as he sat back, crossing one of his legs over the other, "The spokesman for protein shakes and steroids? I think I'll turn to more credible sources if I need to worry about proper definitions."

"We are willing to give you what you want, Mr. Gibson." All Might said, "But if you are not willing to give over the two innocents you have with you, then how can we trust you'll hold true to your side of this agreement?"

"You don't." Wesley stated matter-of-factly. "All you can do is decide how much you are willing to test me and take the gamble. So you can go ahead and try and stop me. Then some of my more hedonistic compatriots here will be able to tell me if they also taste like a frog when they are shoved bit-by-bit into an oven."

Tsuyu and Fumikage saw something that shook them inside, even though it was coming from one of their greatest idols, and it was simply the drop of his smile. Fumikage was not one to be shaken by things easily, but for some reason seeing All Might without a smile was just one of those things that made him uneasy. He didn't even scowl, frown, none of that. The simple lack of his smile was enough.

"I don't want to see them hurt, which is why I'm even willing to consider stepping aside enough for you to settle whatever beef you have with the League while making sure people stay out of your crossfire." Neither blinked, though to be fair it was hard for Fumikage to even tell if All Might did, as they watched one another. "I would rather this not escalate any further and require me to step in."

Wesley's bored look shifted into a scowl, the blonde cocking his head to the side. "Big words from a big man. Yet so far, I've seen little of your track record to give me worry." Wesley then stood up, leaning on the keypad that sat in front of the camera, eyes still trained on All Might.

"I don't remember seeing you on the street, fighting alongside Scruffy there. I don't remember seeing your shit eating grin while I dropped people left-and-fucking-right. I've been here less than a week, and I already have at least twenty-five police officers and three pro-heroes on my body count. Those are the ones I can just confirm too, who knows who else died while I slung hot lead and super-heated matter down the street."

They could see from his posture, that Wesley was certainly more agitated now. "So far, you All-Mighty-Asshole, your little students there have put on a bigger show than you when it comes to fuckin' heroics, and their shining moments was Bird-Brain leaving the field with a ruined arm and Frogger there barely being saved from being put down like Old-Fucking-Yeller."

Wesley finally cracked a smile, "Hell as I recall, Scruffy there is the only reason she isn't dead right now, because I guess you were off finding enough fucking hairspray to maintain the stupid antennae look you got going on there."

His smile faded again, "You best be careful with your threats. Because you may be the number one hero here, but where I come from, I'm the scariest super-fuck who ever walked the Earth."

He leaned forwards once more on the keypad, eyes looking over everyone. "Stay out of our way, and a lot less people are going to be hurt. That's my offer, so take it, or leave it." the last image they saw was him hitting something on the keyboard, causing the video feed to go black as the villains vanished from sight.

The silence that followed the next few moments felt too heavy for even Tokoyami, who would usually appreciate such moments. The main screen had been replaced now with the camera feed of the police station, Kenji tapping a finger on the table in front of him.

Aizawa was the one to finally break the oppressive silence, "That man is certainly confident in his capabilities."

Nezu nodded his head, "It would certainly seem that way. At least we have a name to work with."

"We are already looking into what records we have, as well as looking into getting permission to look into foreign records on him." Kenji said, "Whoever Mr. Gibson is, we'll figure it out."

Nezu then turned to look to Tsuyu and Fumikage, "Thank you, both of you for showing up here." waiting until they had turned to face them, he then continued, "I can understand the burden you two are feeling, and to see that." he glanced at the screen for a moment before back to the students, primarily focusing on Tsuyu though. "Well, I know there are no words that I can say to dispel the worry you are feeling."

"We will rescue your brother and sister, Ms. Asui. We will get them back to you, safe and sound." Nezu said, Tsuyu looking away from him and too the ground.

A heavy hand on both of their shoulders had Fumikage and Tsuyu looking up at All Might, standing in front of them, smile once more having returned. "And that is a promise, young ones."

He looked at them both, gently squeezing their shoulders, "What I'm going to say, may not be what you want to really hear right now, but I implore you that you must stay strong, for everyone."

"No matter how heavy the burden may feel, keep your head held high, and you'll not only find a way out of these kinds of messes; Keep your head held high, so that no matter how crushing the despair may feel, everyone can know that everything is going to be alright." With that, he gave both their shoulders a pat before looking to Aizawa as he approached.

"Class will be dismissed early today, so you may head back or go home if you wish too." he motioned for them to follow as he made his way towards the door and out of the room, the two students following after him.

Once they had left, Nezu then looked back to the screen. "Chief Tsuragamae, when you get results, could you please keep us informed and forward any information you find?"

Kenji nodded his head, "Of course Nezu. Good day to you." with that, the screen went black, Nezu just nodding head. A burst of steam to his side drew his attention to All Might, who had shrunk down to his smaller form with the others having left.

"What does the League have that he wants so badly?" Ectoplasm asked, the others looking to him.

"As of now, I don't know." Nezu looked to All Might as he said it, "Do you believe Mr. Gibson may have a connection with Mr. Shigaraki's master?"

"If he does, then I do not know anything about it." All Might said. "And I have no idea what he could want from the League either."

" 'Why' always seems to be the million dollar question." Snipe muttered, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his seat.

* * *

The walk back to the classroom felt far worse for Fumikage than the walk away from it. He and Tsuyu once again followed Aizawa, who looked to them once they had reached the class. "Though my suggestion may sound counter-intuitive, it may help if you at least inform your friends of what is happening."

The two students looked to the teacher, both with confused looks. He returned the looks with his standard exhausted appearance. "They will quickly realize something is up, and then they will start asking you questions. You can spare yourself of having to deal with it all if you let them know of the kidnapping, as well as telling them you cannot speak of anything beyond that."

He looked to Tsuyu, "As you told us, the conditions were that you could not talk about the villains in any fashion, however he said you are allowed to let people know what is going on." He slipped his hands into his pockets as he began to walk off. "Having friends to support you never hurts, after all."

They both watched him walk down the hallway for a bit before Tsuyu walked into the empty classroom. Fumikage watched her go before glancing to the window, figuring the others were still outside.

He then turned and made his way back into the classroom, looking to Tsuyu before he quietly began to make his way towards his own things. Again he found the silence to be suffocating, the noises of him and Tsuyu collecting their stuff not enough to break the tension.

A heavy sigh from Tsuyu drew his attention, looking at her as she stood next to her desk, eyes set on the desk in front of her. He could easily see the tension in her shoulders, and her next breath came out in a stutter. He looked off to the side, trying to think of what to say or do to help.

Then he heard her begin to sniffle, as if trying to keep her emotions in check. He began to walk towards her, heading towards her side. He stopped next to her, watching her bring up a wrist to wipe at her eye, where he could see the tell-tale sheen of moisture. "Tsuyu..." was all he found he could say.

She took another deep breath, seeming to collect herself. "All because we went to a food-court in the mall." she said, finishing with collecting her stuff. She now looked at him, "Almost feels like this isn't real, thinking about how that choice alone has us here."

Fumikage watched her before nodding his head, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Tokoyami, I know this isn't any easier for you. In a way it probably feels even worse." She said, watching him look away, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"No, I mean they are your siblings. Can't compare to the torment you are feeling."

"That's why I can imagine it being worse." she said, the bird-boy looking back up to her. "I've always worried about my brother and sister. It's not an emotion that is foreign to me." She turned to him. "But you, knowing if you mess up, they'll not only be hurt, but so will I and my parents."

Fumikage's eyes had now settled on the ground, staying silent simply because he didn't know what else to say.

"But Tokoyami," she said, the young-hero-to-be looking up at her, eyes widening in surprise to see the slight smile she had, "I'm glad it was you who ended up here. Not because I'm glad to see you hurt, but because I know you won't get Satsuki or Samidare hurt. I know they'll be safe."

Fumikage's mouth was now slightly agape, definitely lost and unsure what to say. Again, he found himself happy that his feathers hid the blush on his cheeks. "Thank you, Tokoyami. For bearing this with me."

She nodded her head to him before turning and heading for the door, leaving Fumikage there to once again have to gather his thoughts. He watched the door she had passed through, having left him alone in the room.

He couldn't help but smile slightly, feeling just a bit more ready to face whatever was coming his way.

* * *

Who the hell was it that they had pissed off, Tokoyami wondered, staring at the screen of his computer. Why was Wesley so adamant about keeping him and Tsuyu silenced? Clearly it was something big if the villain was reaching out to not only UA but to the police as well to bargain for what basically amounted to a non-aggression pact.

He stared at the various comments of support directed towards Tsuyu, all posted to the small group page Ashido or Hagakure had created for the class; if he had to guess it was probably both of them who had jumped at the idea.

The news of the kidnapping had been shared by Tsuyu, and it was nice to see everyone be as supportive as they could.

He scratched at the top of his head, leaning back in his chair and sighing. As happy as he was to see the class try and help Tsuyu, and also thinking about what she had said to him earlier, he was finding it difficult to hold onto that sense of joy. All he could think about was how the well being of Tsuyu's siblings also rested on him, no matter what he tried to do to distract himself.

Crossing his arms and closing his eyes, his frown deepened. Not knowing what would be the wrong move was the worse part of it. Knowing he could say or do the wrong thing, and not know what those things even were, and suddenly Tsuyu's brother or sister could be mutilated by the psycho that had them.

Something shifting to his side had him opening his eyes to look at Dark Shadow who was floating there, looking at him as well. The stress of the situation was even apparent on the animated shadow, Tokoyami being reminded how much his own emotions affect Shadow just as much as it did to himself.

He reached up, resting a hand atop of Shadow's head, who in turn gave a soft, worried shrill in response. "Not even half a year in, and already have people's lives in our hands." Stroking Shadow's head for a moment, he then looked back to the computer screen before letting out another sigh and turning it off.

Standing up, he snatched his music-player off of his desk, resting the headphones on his neck before walking over to where his jacket hung on the back of his door, draping it over his shoulder before heading out of his room.

He looked to his father, who was currently asleep in his chair in front of the TV. Shaking his head before slipping his jacket on, he began his walk away from his home.

The closeness of the nearby park was something Tokoyami was quite happy for, as it was a nice place to go and settle his mind when things got hectic inside his head. especially when he went there in the evenings when there were very few people roaming about. Granted, he sometimes found out the hard way that others took advantage of the absence of people at the later hours of the day. He felt his cheeks heat up slightly as he remembered stumbling across a couple's "late night rendezvous."

Shaking that memory from his head, he glanced up at the sun, eyeballing it, figuring he had about two or so hours before it set. Having a quirk that could get rambunctious at night had taught him to get pretty good at estimating the time of day based on the sun's position alone.

Slipping his headphones on, he pulled out his player from his pocket, swiping his thumb over the screen as he booted up whatever song first showed up.

Placing the machine back into the pocket of his jacket while also moving his hands in as well, he looked forwards, feeling the breeze pass him by as it ruffled the feathers of his head. He knew being a hero was not going to be an easy career, those who figured it would be a cake-walk were the very ones he surpassed during the entrance exam.

But this kind of pressure wasn't what he was prepared for. He knew it would be inevitable to face this level of adversity, but he figured he'd be at least a year or two into his education before running into that wall. He figured he'd have been prepared for it by the time it came, but here he was. Confused, angry, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, scared.

It seemed as if his shoulder began to burn, just to remind him of what had happened. He hated to acknowledge the anxiety that was settling in his chest, but every time his mind wandered back to that street, the tension followed soon after. It scared him to think that he had been mere inches away from death's door. He brought a hand up to his shoulder, which while healed, still ached when the thoughts came to him.

It wasn't necessarily the threat to his life that had shaken him, after all, it was something he was well aware of being a part of becoming a pro-hero. No, it was just how fast it all could have ended for him.

There was no build up, no drama, nothing like stories portrayed. His life didn't flash before his eyes, he didn't feel the world slow down. He didn't even hear the gunshot. He attacked the villain, who evaded with ease to then take him out of the fight before Tokoyami could even move for his next action.

A dodged attack, and before he even recovered he'd already been shot.

His hand tightened it's hold of his shoulder without a conscious thought on his end. Wesley had made a good point regarding the weapon he had attached to his rifle, as Tokoyami hadn't even considered if the explosive weapon even had a cool down period; there was no telling how much more severe the wounds would have been if he'd been shot by that rather than just the bullet.

He stopped walking, eyes closing as his whole body tensed up at the thought. He could very well have died right then and there, just like all of those police officers. Just like Breaker, like Jet-Stream, or like Nightshade. His eyes opened up when he felt something shift in front of him, his eyes settling on Dark Shadow looking at him, worried once again. His slightly blurred vision let him know of the tears that were forming in his eyes.

Shaking his head and quickly wiping away at them, he then cursed under his breath. He'd gone out to try and settle his mind, and here he was, only exacerbating the problem; again.

"I'm sorry, Shadow." He pushed the headphones off of his head as he ran a hand through his feathers. "I'm sorry, I know how much of this you feel as well. I'm sorry, buddy." he muttered

Shadow just watched him, letting his host calm down more. "So much for a calming walk to the park, huh?" he scoffed, blinking though when he felt Shadow's hand lightly bop him on the forehead. He looked to the animated shadow, who had crossed his arms while staring at Fumikage.

Chuckling softly, he nodded his head. "Yeah, you're right." his eyes met with what counted for Shadow's. "Thanks, Shadow."

Shadow gave him a thumbs up in return. "Aye, aye." was his response before he sank back into Tokoyami's stomach.

He needed to keep his head held high, just like All Might had told them to do. Because if he was too scared to fight, if the heroes ran away, then who would step-up? Chuckling softly, he looked on ahead as he began to slip his headphones back over his ears, "There's a motivational poster right there."

His walk to the park was, thankfully, uneventful. His beak moved as he silently sang along with the music blaring through his headphones, his eyes moving about as he looked to people passing by. He'd nod in return to people who acknowledged him, which after the sports festival had become a growing phenomenon.

If there was another thing he was thankful for, it was that most people were polite enough to not bother him regarding such things. Granted the festival was past and much of the hype had died down, but still, Tokoyami had definitely caught the eyes of people so sometimes he still found himself being accosted by fans he never knew he even had.

Such as now, Tokoyami having lowered his headphones when two young boys had run up to him. "It totally was him! Told you, Kaori!" one the boys said, receiving a light shove from what Tokoyami assumed was the boy's brother.

"Oh shut up! I never said it wasn't him, just that I didn't think it was!" the boy glared at the other, but the one who spoke up first simply ignored him. The young boy had, to Tokoyami's surprise, fished out a small notebook with a pen slipped into the binding.

"Oh please, can I get your autograph?! You were totally awesome and kickass in the festival!"

"I'm totally telling mom you swore, Naoki." Kaori grinned, receiving an anger glare from the one looking for an autograph. Chuckling softly, Tokoyami took the book from him.

"Sure, don't see why not." The Jet-Black-Hero said, scrawling down his name along with his hero name, adding a bit of a flourish to his name. While his peaceful walk to the park may have been interrupted by the two kids, it still felt nice.

Granted it was opposite to the whole "cool, dark" vibe he aimed for, but then again he was certain that when he had been younger, had he run into a hero like he was trying to be he'd go all fanboy as well. "There." he handed the book back to Naoki, whose face lit up with a huge grin.

"Yes! Totally gonna rub this in the face of the guys when I see them again!" Naoki shouted.

Kaori looked to Tokoyami, smiling as well. "Sucks that you lost to that explosion dude. That guy was just scary...and angry." Tokoyami stifled a chuckle; if only this kid really understood how crazy Bakugou could get.

"Yeah, but not every fight is going to end in victory." Tokoyami said, "Winning is a glorious treat for sure, but the most satisfying delicacy will always be having given your all during such valiant battles." Both kids blinked, looking at him a bit confused. Tokoyami watched them before closing his eyes and sighing for a moment. "Point is, even if you can't always win, you can always go beyond."

The kids switched back to cheerful again, "Yeah! Plus Ultra!" Naoki shouted. Both kids suddenly gasped at the sight of Dark Shadow emerging from behind Tokoyami, looking over the teen's shoulder to look at the two boys. "Oh sweet! That shadow thingy!"

Tokoyami glanced back at Shadow, who had a grin across his ethereal face, causing Tokoyami to smile slightly himself. "His name is Dark Shadow. And he's always here with me." Tokoyami said, looking back to the two kids now.

Naoki stood there, silent for a moment before thrusting out his notebook towards Dark Shadow. "Can I have your autograph too?!" Tokoyami blinked in confusion before chuckling, glancing back at Shadow.

"I'm not gonna do it for you."

"Aye, aye." was Shadow's response as he too eagerly snatched the notebook, scribbling across the page with the pen before floating to the Naoki and handing it over. As he did, Tokoyami saw what Shadow had written, seeing an arrow pointing to his own name with the word "team mate" next to it. He deadpanned though when he saw Shadow had put in parentheses next to Tokoyami's name, "My Ride."

Naoki looked at the names with a huge grin before looking up at Tokoyami. "Thank you, thank you! This is just awesome!" Tokoyami couldn't help but smile at the kid's enthusiasm, if only because it was reminding Tokoyami of why being a hero was his goal. Keep your head held high, so everyone knows that everything is going to be ok, All Might's words causing his smile to grow more.

Shouting snapped his attention away from the kids, who in turn also looked to the source. They watched as two men were currently locked up in a fight, one being pushed back by the other. The one being pushed back suddenly spun his body while pressing up with his legs, causing the other man's momentum to send him flipping over the other.

With a heavy thud, the one who had been being pushed was now lying on top of the other, and quickly he moved to a full mount position where he delivered a solid punch to the downed man's jaw. "You fucking!" another punch, "Cock-sucking," another, "Dick-bag!" another punch.

His attention was then drawn to the sound of Tokoyami moving, the man looking over. "The fu-" his words were cut off as Dark Shadow slammed head on into him, delivering a powerful punch right to the man's face.

Said individual toppled over backwards, rolling up over his head before coming to a stop on his stomach, dust kicking up as he landed face down. The man who had been pummeled was out cold, though the man on the ground groaned and coughed as he began to push himself up, dust kicking up from his breath disturbing the ground in front of him.

"Did I just...get punched by a bird?" the man asked out loud, though clearly it wasn't actually directed to anybody in general.

Sitting up onto his knees, he spit some blood out of his mouth while holding his nose which was also bleeding. "Augh...that, sucked. Fuck, think you broke my nose."

Tokoyami had moved between the two men and the two boys, Dark Shadow at the ready though he didn't attack, now that the hostilities had currently ceased. "Get out of here kids, and get a hold of the police or another hero if you can." Both kids stared, shocked and confused before Tokoyami looked to them. "Go, I'll be ok." he said before looking back to the man who was still holding his nose. Both kids hesitated again, before Kaori grabbed his brother and dragged him off.

The man finally opened his eyes to look at Tokoyami, still holding his nose. He stared at the teen, his mouth having frozen in a look of confusion. "So," the man began, his voice sounding somewhat naisily due to his injured nose. "Do you actually have a bird head, or am I suffering a concussion?"

"I suggest you don't move at this point, the police are on their way." Tokoyami stated, his face having reverted to its stern and serious expression, keeping a watchful eye on the man.

The man held up a hand, snorting for a moment before spitting out another glob of blood and saliva. "Wait, wait. That guy's the bad guy!" he pointed to the unconscious man. "Dude was trying to mug me, alright?"

He then moved so he was sitting down now, though Tokoyami maintained his stance. Knowing this could be another product of the fight happening between the villain groups, he wasn't taking any chances.

"Then tell that to the police once they get here." The man watched Tokoyami for a few moments before sighing and falling onto his back.

"Fine...augh, fuck me that hurt. Yeah, nose is totally broken" He laid there for a few moments before speaking again, "I don't suppose telling you I'm a hero will make this any easier, will it?"

"That's for the police to decide." was Tokoyami's reply.

The man then sat up again, looking at Tokoyami now. "Who are you, then? Their deputy?" with a sudden snap, Tokoyami winced slightly as the man shifted his nose back into place, suddenly letting out a string of gibberish as he sat there. "Ow..."

"I'm Tsukuyomi, The Jet Black Hero." The man seemed shocked at Tokoyami's words, staring at the teen.

"Hero? Look kinda young," the man paused, "Well, I think you do. Never got a clear answer on whether you have a bird head, a bird mask, or I've suffered brain damage."

Tokoyami just watched him, remaining silent now. The person was currently wearing mostly civilian clothes, though Tokoyami could see under the man's jacket that he wore a vest that had various pockets and things strapped to it. He could also see the belt that had many pockets and pouches on it as well. The man watched Tokoyami in return, glancing to the unconscious person before back to the bird-faced teen.

"At least answer this question for me. The police, they fighting for the good guys? This ain't some trick by the Fraternity, is it?"

It was Tokoyami's turn to be confused, eyes narrowing some. "There going to arrest both of you, and figure out who did what. Even if that guy was at fault, self-defense laws are fairly strict, so best hope it goes well for you."

The man eyed Tokoyami, watching before smiling a bit, nodding his head. "Hero, you said? Working with the police, and claiming to have no idea of whatever Fraternity I'm speaking of, huh? Or at least, I'm assuming you don't know of the Fraternity since you didn't acknowledge them yet."

Tokoyami just remained bewildered, "No, I don't know anything about any...Fraternity. Especially no Fraternity that works with the police."

The man chuckled, "Not working with the police, in control of the police. But you're a hero and don't know anything about The Fraternity." the man chuckled before lying back, arms raised up in the air. "Looks like I made it! Hip-hip-hooray for not being de-atomized!"

The man looked past his legs that were bent now, looking at a very confused teen. He chuckled some, closing his eyes before turning his head so it was facing up at the sky.

"Yeah, I got a lot to talk to you people about. And I mean, a lot."

* * *

**AN: Man that was a long one, and hopefully I did alright. Definitely would like to thank those who continue to support me in this endeavor (hm...not sure if pun in this case, but not intended if taken as such.)**

**Anyhow, thank you all, and please feel free to tell what you think. There is never a time where I don't appreciate feedback, whether it be advice you think may help improve my writing, to even just telling me what you thought of it as a whole or certain parts of it. As always, thank you!**


	5. Chapter 5

"That would be the long and short of it, officer." Fumikage said, sighing as he had to explain the story once again to another police officer. He sat on a nearby hand-rail, arms crossed as he talked, keeping a foot hooked onto a lower railing to keep himself balanced.

It'd taken the police about fifteen minutes or so to show up after Kaori and Naoki had run off, which Fumikage had been glad for. The man he'd punched seemed to have just relaxed and accept his fate, which was nice.

Fumikage got a little on edge when the other seemed to start waking up, but a minute or so before he did the police and some paramedics had shown up. The teen was then forced to sit to the side, explain the story to the first responders, then wait for the second group to show up and give an official, recorded statement which he was just finishing up.

He had called up his dad just before the second group had shown up, listening to his dad try to process what he was being told after just being woken up. He scoffed in amusement at the thought of how confused his father probably was.

"Find something amusing?" the officer's hard tone broke through his thoughts, Fumikage's small smile immediately dropping as he looked to the man.

"No, sir." was all he said, looking off towards where they were guiding the man the teen had stopped towards a police car.

"Look, I know it may not look pretty but I swear that dude started it." the man kept going, the two officers guiding him just seeming to ignore him. "Ok, fine, not a good start, but seriously I'm here to help you guys!"

Both Fumikage and the officer speaking to him just watched the man be guided past them, the man looking at Fumikage for a moment before sighing and then looking to the officers to his side. "Can you at least take me to someone higher up or somethin'? I got info on the killer. Seriously, I'm on your side here!"

The two of them watched the man be taken away before the officer with Fumikage turned to look at him. "Wait here until we get things settled, got it?" with a nod from the teen, the officer then walked off towards another group who were sorting through the gear they had pulled off the one individual.

Fumikage couldn't get a good look at it all, but he had seen that the man had come very equipped for something, as they had pulled a variety of tools an devices from various pockets and pouches the man had had on his person. He could hear the officers muttering about the plethora of odd gadgets as they tried to figure out what they all were.

"Hey, hey! Seriously you want to be careful with that stuff! Some of those things are more dangerous than they appear!" Said owner of gadgets called out, though he was quickly shoved into the backseat of a different police car than the one the tools were spread out on.

"Yeah, that would be my son you don't have in handcuffs, so I'm inferring its alright if I go and speak with him, no?" Fumikage turned his head to see his father speaking to an officer that had stopped him, though he was let by a moment afterwards.

He certainly felt a bit more relieved to know that he'd gotten here so quickly.

"Should I just ground you at this point Fumikage? Just so you don't wander off into anymore trouble?" his father said, stopping to lean against the railing before glancing around.

"I'm beginning to believe that at this rate even that won't do any good." he said in response as he looked to the older man.

"I guess you have a point there." Looking back to his son, Arashi shook his head, "Probably best to lessen the chance to drag the house into any of these messes then."

"Thanks, father." Fumikage sighed. Arashi looked to him for a moment before to the same officer who had taken Fumikage's statement coming towards them.

"Who are you?" the man asked, stopping before them while resting his hands on his belt while looking to Arashi who stood up off the railing.

"His father." was all Arashi said to start with, the officer glancing to Fumikage before back to Arashi.

"Well, your son has been involved in an altercation between two individuals and made use of his quirk to separate them. So, we are keeping him here until the other two are taken care of, then we can decide what will happen to him."

Arashi raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the railing once more. "What is there to decide? And he's already informed me of what has happened and from how it sounded it seems to fit the self-defense clause quite well."

"As I said, we can decide that afterwards." With that, the police officer turned to leave, Fumikage sighing once again and looking down.

"Well, somebody wants to seem important." Arashi muttered once the officer was out of ear shot. He then turned to look at Fumikage who had looked over. "Oh, you know you'll be fine as well."

"Yeah, yeah." Fumikage said. He glanced over to the two cars that were taking away the two men, Arashi looking over as well.

"Another thing, do you have to get in trouble when I am sleeping as well?" Fumikage looked over when his father had spoken, shrugging.

"I figured it'd be the best time to do something crazy. If this is to become common, then I'll at least make it more exciting for you too." he then looked ahead, "Besides, you said any chance to get out of the house is something you won't frown upon."

Arashi narrowed his eyes at Fumikage before chuckling softly, looking ahead. "When did you get a sense of humor?"

"Someone has to make up for you." Fumikage looked to his father with a small grin.

Arashi scoffed, crossing his arms, "Keep that up and we'll see who the most humorous of us is. I warned you before I still got ammo to throw against you."

"That's assuming I ever let you meet my friends again, father." Arashi just chuckled, his smile fading though when two officers, one of which was the one who had spoken to them to begin with, approached them.

"So," the one they had talked to began, "considering the unlicensed use of his quirk, we may need to take your son in for further questioning before we can fully decide on whether or not he is clear to go." This caused the Tokoyamis to frown in unison, Arashi one again pushing himself off of the railing to stand up straighter.

"So, you are telling me that my son, who while speaking with two children that had approached him in a public place, had two unknown individuals suddenly and unexpectedly appear on the scene engaged in a violent altercation, during a time period where there have been countless reports of two villain groups repeatedly engaging in destructive skirmishes with one another, was not acting in self-defense of himself and the two children when he used his quirk to only halt the fighting between the two individuals and convince the only conscious individual to cease anymore hostilities?"

All of them were looking at Arashi, who was calmly eyeing the officer. "Not to mention my son is currently attending UA Academy and is constantly training in the use of his quirk for heroic purposes and defense of the civilian population." After another pause, Arashi then shrugged as he looked to the departing police cars. "Just sounds like it'd fit fine under a ruling of self-defense, and save everyone, from you, to the attendants at the police station, as well as Principal Nezu of UA Academy, a lot of time and hassle."

The second officer who had walked over was just glancing between Arashi and the first officer, Fumikage doing the same. After a brief period of silence, the first officer sighed, scowling slightly at Arashi.

"Well, had you let me finish, I was going to say that though we may have had to take him in, we have decided that he is clear to go. So you may leave now, but you best be very careful next time you decide to use your quirk, boy." the officer said looking at Fumikage before turning and heading off towards his car.

His partner watched him go before looking to Arashi who was now smiling, the officer chuckling softly. "Well, you two have a good night then." he said, nodding his head before heading after his partner.

Fumikage watched them go before looking at his father again, who returned the look with a smile. "Told you before that your mother and I met in a law class. Now let's get home already. I want to get back to the nap you interrupted." Fumikage chuckled softly, hopping down from the railing as he followed after his father.

"I think you were just showing off."

Arashi snickered, "Fumikage, you haven't seen anything. Besides, your mother was far more of a showoff when it came to spoutin' laws and regulations. Just had to let people know how much an expert she was."

"I can tell that you two had definitely been made for one another." Fumikage said, slipping his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

"Oh yeah, nothing like going on a date and then arguing over the dates and names of major hero cases. A story of true romance and love to last for the ages."

Rolling his eyes, Fumikage looked on ahead. "Yeah, I'll make sure to come to you when I need advice on love and romance."

"Not sure that'd be a good idea, son. That means you'd have to admit to me you are dating someone, and we both know what's going to come of that." Arashi looked at his son with a mischievous grin.

Fumikage sighed and shook his head, "Have I ever mentioned you can be insufferable sometimes, father?"

"Eh, once or twice I believe." He said with a chuckle.

* * *

"Just fuck everything with a wine opener, throw them into a fucking meat-grinder!" Wesley proceeded to kick a chair, sending it toppling across the floor before coming to a stop as it banged into a wall. With a growl, he kicked another chair for good measure, Prizefighter and some others making sure to stay clear of the object as it went by them.

"Hey, what's the boss so angry about?" someone whispered into Prizefighter's ear, the Irishman turning to look at a man he didn't recognize. Honestly, the guy was kinda on the lower rung of their group, so Prizefighter had no real reason why he'd know him.

His response was cut off by Wesley deciding to answer the question for him. "Because I manage to buy ourselves some time, getting the fucking heroes off our back," Both of the villains had recoiled and backed up some when Wesley had turned to face them. "And then the fucking pieces of butt-fucking shit-brains I'm after decide to vanish off the face of this fucking Earth!"

They watched him as he turned and walked over to the central computer of their base, resting his hands on it as he stared at the keyboard in front of him, back and arms still tense enough to show his irritation.

No one said anything, the various villains in the room just looking among one another and Wesley. Most remained still, if only to not draw their boss' attention, though some choose to quietly slip from the room before things get out of hand.

"Wesley," those left in the room turned to look at Seltzer as he walked towards the angry individual. "If I may, this is still salvageable situation."

Most had fled the room by this point, though Prizefighter and few others, Rad included who was sitting in a corner, arms rest on his lap as he watched, remained. They all looked to Seltzer, then back to Wesley who had let out a sharp breath in an effort to calm himself.

"What?" Wesley asked, not looking to The Doctor as he continued to compose himself.

"We just need to give the League a reason to show themselves again. We simply need to convince them that it is safe again to emerge from their hole." Seltzer picked up one of the kicked chairs, setting it down and taking a seat on it while straightening his apron.

With one more, deeper sigh, Wesley rubbed at his face before turning to look at the man. "Alright then, Doc. I'm all ears."

Seltzer was fiddling around with a device that seemed to be a phone from Prizefighter's perspective, but he knew that The Doctor's gadgets were never as simple as that.

He looked up to Wesley, even as he continued to fiddle with the device. "Simple, we are just going to convince them that we are no longer a problem. We'll even be able to convince the heroes that we are no longer an issue they need to deal with. And it means we'll be able to dump those children off of our hands."

Leaning back against the keyboard, Wesley crossed his arms, "You suggesting we just off the little shits? At this point I'm quite content with the idea, but then again that may just be the anger speaking."

Seltzer smiled, "Oh no, no. Not kill them. Just simply," he paused as he thought for a moment, " Just simply 'misplace' them."

The raised eyebrow and lack of response from Wesley was enough of a sign to Seltzer to continue, who finally put the device in his hands into a pocket of his apron as he sat up. He then looked to Prizefighter, "Could you please fetch Croaker? He's going to be needed for this."

* * *

It'd been a couple of days now since Fumikage had been at the meeting with Wesley and the other heroes, and a bit dis-concerning for the young student was that things had suddenly become far quieter regarding conflicts between the League and Wesley's group, and by quieter he meant that they seemed to have stopped all-together.

Looking to his phone, seeing it was noontime, he then looked back out the window of the train as it rattled along its tracks. He and a couple of others from Class 1-A had decided once more to get together, hopefully to have some fun. He knew that it was primarily for Tsuyu, an idea from Mina and Hagakure in an attempt to ease her mind, even if only for a couple of hours.

It had been an open invitation, and considering Fumikage felt he too could use a mental break from the past two weeks of hell, he had decided to tag along. He looked ahead as he felt the train slowing down, reaching a station for its scheduled stop.

He remained seated, as his stop was still a few more stops away, watching people leave or hop on. His attention switched back to his phone as he began scrolling through random web-pages, stopping on some that seemed like an interesting read.

He settled on a news article that was talking about the sudden decrease in violence from the villain groups. Like him, they noted how their skirmishes had gone from the battles of a secret war, to having just stopped. They though attributed it to the police and the many pros driving them back into the shadows.

Fumikage wasn't very convinced with such an idea, as neither villain group had ever seemed very phased about heroic intervention, or rather were willing to deal with it should it occur. Hell, Wesley had made it clear that he was going to continue regardless of the heroes.

It was really beginning to grow annoying that he had no idea what the hell was going on.

"Well if it isn't our classroom edgelord!" a voice chirped nearby, Fumikage blinking to see a familiar, or lack thereof, form of one of the conspirators for the class outing. Fumikage responded with a deadpan look as he watched Hagakure plop down across from him, crossing her legs as she seemed to lean against the window.

"Hello, Hagakure." was Fumikage's response, his eyes then turning to settle an approaching Ojiro. "Hello to you as well, Ojiro." he then looked between them as Ojiro took a seat next to the invisible girl.

"Heya, Tokoyami. How has today been for you?" he asked, glancing to Toru for a moment before back to the other boy.

Fumikage just shrugged, "Well, today so far has been quiet and simple, though knowing you," he said looking at Toru, " I can only imagine it could very well change from that."

Toru snickered, "Well, that may be the case, but I can promise that it'd be a fun-kinda-excitement."

Fumikage just shook his head, "I certainly don't doubt it." Glancing out the window as the train began to move, his attention returned to his two classmates, "So, any idea who else is deciding to tag along?"

Ojiro shifted in his seat some so his tail was not bent awkwardly against the seat. "Well, other than Mina for certain, I believe Kyouka was a definite."

"More than just her!" Toru piped up, " Ochako, Sato, Midoriya, Iida are ones I know for certain." She hummed, raising her hand (or at least Fumikage assumed) to her chin. " I think Kirishima is tagging along, and possibly even Aoyama."

Fumikage scoffed in amusement, "Well. it's definitely going to be something with a party like this."

Their conversations peered off into small talk, Fumikage slowly becoming a bit more passive as time went on. His attention returned fully when at the next stop he looked up to see a familiar teal-haired student, Fumikage sitting up a bit more when Tsuyu had turned to look at him.

She nodded his head to him as she began walking over, Toru looking to Fumikage before moving to look over the seat. "What'cha looking at, Tokoyami?" When she saw who it was, she then perked up a bit more, her sleeve shifting in a waving fashion. "Tsuyu!"

"Hiya, Toru" Tsuyu said as she moved to sit down next to Tokoyami. She greeted Ojiro as well, resting her hands on her lap as she looked among them.

"Well, this makes things much easier getting together." Toru said. "Less searching we have to do."

"That's certainly the handy thing about centralized train transportation, kero." Tsuyu responded.

"Mhm! I'm really glad you could join us, Tsuyu." Toru responded, having relaxed back into her chair.

"Thank you for setting this up, Toru."

"Save that thank you for when we meet up with the others, alright?" Toru sat forwards, "That way you don't have to repeat it a bunch!"

Ojiro chuckled softly, looking to Tsuyu then back to Toru, "I have a feeling it's going to happen regardless."

"Then she can save all of them for when we are together, duh!" Tokoyami and Tsuyu both chuckled softly.

"So, anything specific planned, Toru?" Tsuyu asked.

Toru shrugged, "I mean, nothing really specific. In a way, just a chance to get together again outside of class."

Tokoyami watched them, small smile on his beak as he relaxed back into his seat. Even if he wasn't a part of the conversation, it was one of the few times where he enjoyed the background noise. It was happy chatter between friends, and given how the past weeks have been going, it was a strangely soothing sound to hear.

"Hey, Tokoyami." a voice broke through to him, the teen turning to look at Toru who had asked the question.

"Yes, Hagakure?"

"Well, was wondering if you could tell us a bit more about that one dude you had a run in with a couple of days ago." Tokoyami blinked, confused for a moment before nodding his head.

"Ah, yes." He paused, glancing out the window as he thought about it, before looking back to her. He had made mention of it to the other classmates a day or so after it had happened. He hadn't really gone into detail, just mentioned what had happened and that, more importantly, nothing horrible had occurred because of it.

"I guess there really isn't a whole lot I can say about it. Probably the biggest points that stood out to me was the guy claiming he was a hero, all of the gadgets and devices the police had pulled off of him, and also something about..." he paused again, "well, he called it 'The Fraternity' that apparently the police worked for, or at least did wherever he came from."

The others were looking at him confused. Ojiro spoke up first, "Fraternity?"

Tokoyami shrugged, "He brought it up a couple of times, but never actually went into any detail about it. He just seemed happy when I mentioned I was a hero and had no clue what he was talking about."

"Some creepy conspiracy theory stuff right there." Toru muttered.

Tsuyu had a finger to her lip, clearly in thought before taking a turn to speak, "As much as I don't want to think about it today, you think he may be referring to the other villains?"

Fumikage paused, thinking about it now that she had brought it up. It was a fair point, given that they had no real idea of who the villains were beyond a couple of names. "He said though where he was from the police worked for them though," Ojiro said, drawing their attention. "If it was them, then don't you think they'd be a bit more known?"

"Yeah." Toru said, a sleeve moving as she began to tap her chin in thought, "You really think their could be some underground villain group with all that control? I mean, we haven't seen anything or anyone so far that could even match All Might, and no way could he be a part of it. I can't imagine they could really be around with him around as well."

"Yeah," Ojiro continued. "Even if they were in another country, you'd still think they'd be unable to do what it seems that guy says they can do."

Tsuyu took her turn to speak now, "Well, we don't even know where the guy is from."

"True, but he never mentioned any names beyond ' The Fraternity'." Tokoyami said, looking to her. "If he had any idea about the villain group, you think he'd have been more clear on it."

"Well," Toru began, the others looking to her, "You guys think maybe he's just a nutcase?" Her shirt shifted as if she was looking at the others, "He had a bunch of weird oddities, spouting about some group of villains no one has heard of, and is saying the police work for them." She then shrugged, leaning back into her seat. "Honestly, just sounds like some insane conspiracy theorist."

Tsuyu slowly nodded her head, finger lowering form her face, "I guess you aren't wrong." she said.

Toru huffed, catching the attention of the others, "Well, I'm sorry I brought us to some moody material. So! Let's forget that stuff and get back to some fun, alright?!" Ojiro smiled, nodding his head.

"Sounds like a good plan I'd say."

Tsuyu and Tokoyami both nodded, the two of them more than happy to get off topic of strange villain groups.

Fumikage glanced out the window once again as the train began to slow down. He turned his attention back to the others as they all began to get themselves ready to leave, having finally reached their stop. From there, it'd be about ten or so minutes of walking before they reached the meeting place with the others.

He let the other three out first, following them off of the train as he stretched out his arms and back. "Feels good to finally stand." he muttered, looking around at the other departing passengers.

"How long were you even on there, Tokoyami?" Ojiro asked, Fumikage looking to him. As he opened his mouth to respond, he stopped when he caught a glimpse of someone moving through the crowd of people. His eyes narrowed as he tried to get a better look, Ojiro raising an eyebrow at his friends odd behavior. "Tokoyami?" he too then turned to look.

It took a moment before the crowd cleared up enough for Tokoyami to get a good look at the person, seeing someone who's torso was currently covered by a grey jacket of leather, the forearms and elbows having a slightly thicker black material. The black-cloth hood of a thinner jacket beneath the leather was pulled up to hide their head, but the one thing he could make out clearly was the young girl, cradled by one of his arms as she seemed to be sleeping.

It took him a moment to really register who it was, if only because he'd seen the young girl only once. However, the familiar teal hair color, long and pulled into two ponytails on opposite sides of her head, quickly clarified. He was currently staring at Tsuyu's young sister, Satsuki.

"Asui!" he called out, pointing towards the man through the crowd to direct the others' attention. The other three students turned to look, though the man turned to look at the disturbance in return.

It was a face Tokoyami was becoming all to familiar with, the olive colored skin having a slight sheen to it from some kind of moisture that constantly seemed to cling to it. The dark-eyes, framed by a few strands of dark green hair forced into position by the hood, locked with crimson eyes. Croaker, the same man who had put the two students in the precarious position they were in to begin with.

"Satsuki!" He heard Tsuyu call out, she and Tokoyami quickly trying to get through the crowd after the man who had quickly turned and began making his way out of the station.

"Tokoyami? Tsuyu?!" Toru called out, though neither gave her attention at the moment. Once they finally broke through the crowd, they watched as Croaker quickly hopped over a railing, dropping downwards onto the roof of the off-ramp from the station, tightening his hold on the girl in his arms to better hold her. Tsuyu and Tokoyami quickly followed right behind him, watching him drop onto the street below before quickly taking off down the sidewalk.

The two students dropped to the pavement, quickly making their way after Croaker as he shifted and weaved around confused onlookers They saw through the crowd someone move to intercept Croaker, putting their hand out as they seemed to call out for him to stop. The villain's response was, without breaking stride, to jump up and to the side where he landed on the sill of a window, to then jump off and over the other person.

He then stuck his hand out to catch hold of a light post, using it to suddenly shift his momentum and allow him to quickly change his direction down a different street, where he was gone from their sight momentarily. Quickly running past the person who had tried to stop Croaker, they came around the corner to see the man jump up onto a walkway that hung over the street.

"Hey! Dammit, what the hell is going on?!" Tsuyu and Tokoyami both heard the man they had passed call out, but neither gave him any attention at the moment as they did their best to keep on Croaker's tail.

"Shadow!" Tokoyami called out, said being suddenly emerging to then press off the ground and launch Tokoyami up into the air. Landing on the walkway, Tsuyu landing near him a moment later to the sound of people gasping in surprise, they could see down the path the man they were pursuing.

It seemed someone else was making an attempt to stop Croaker, a hero given the person's outfit but neither of them had any idea who it was. Still without a pause in his step, Croaker did a short hop to the side, landing and then springing off the railing to get past them. As he did so, his tongue shot out to constrict the wrist of the hand the person had reached out with. With a sharp and violent tug, along with his body weight behind the movement, Croaker pulled the person off their feet where they then fell face first onto the ground, Croaker quickly retracting his tongue to continue running.

Tokoyami had to do a little hop to get over the fallen hero, watching Croaker make another turn to then hop down from the walkway and to the street below. They followed behind him, Tsuyu moving out ahead slightly from Fumikage as he stumbled slightly from the fall, despite Shadow's assistance.

He was right behind Tsuyu as they ran, the two of them hot on the heels of Croaker who was slipping through alleyways in an attempt to evade them. Both students knew that this very well could get them into serious trouble engaging the villain, but neither were willing to let him slip away when they had found him, especially with him carrying Satsuki with him.

Right now, it didn't matter why he was out like this, both were desperate to make sure he did not get away.

"Hey! Wait up!" they could hear their classmate Ojiro calling out to them, who was surprisingly not far behind. They hoped Hagakure was still with him, but considering she didn't have a quirk that gave her the same level of mobility the other three had, Fumikage had his doubts.

They watched their target slip around a corner of a building, moving into one of the back alleys as he did so. Tsuyu and Tokoyami picked up their pace, quickly reaching the corner and coming around it, only for a blur to pass by them, the breeze caused by the rapid movement of Croaker ruffling their clothes as he passed.

That was when Tokoyami felt something wrap around his ankle, constricting the limb tightly before it was violently yanked out from under him. He smacked into the ground, barely able to prevent his head colliding with the concrete. The pull on his leg did not stop with him falling, the teen being dragged by his leg across the ground.

Dark Shadow emerged to shield his body just in time for Tokoyami to feel himself slam into something hard, the metallic thunk cluing him into it being a dumpster. He looked towards his leg as he felt it be released, watching the man they had been chasing hopping quickly to the side and upwards to avoid an approaching Tsuyu, the man's tongue whipping after him as he moved.

Tsuyu had to quickly slip to the side, managing to avoid a tackle from Croaker as he launched himself off the wall. Her attempt to turn around was halted by Croaker planting a hand to the ground and using the momentum of his tackle to swing his leg out in an arc, catching both legs and knocking them out from under her.

She fell onto her side, Croaker continuing with his spin to then kick off the ground, flipping over backwards to try and bring a shin into her side. The motion was interrupted by Dark Shadow slamming into his side, knocking the man to the side where he bounced across the ground.

He was able to roll up to his hands, bringing his legs around to plant against the wall he was about to slam into and soften the impact. He then pressed himself off the wall and into a forward roll, avoiding Shadow's second strike. Rolling up towards Tokoyami, he barely avoided the double leg kick from Croaker ,that was aimed for his own legs, as Tsuyu suddenly yanked him out of the way, her tongue wrapped around the other's waist.

Setting him down next to her as she stepped back, they both then took a stance, ready to act. "Thanks, Tsuyu." Tokoyami muttered, eyeing the villain in front of them as he turned to face them. The Jet-Black Hero glanced to the side when Ojiro stepped up next to him, the floating clothes identifying Hagakure to Tsuyu's side.

"Toru?" Tsuyu asked, though she kept her eyes on Croaker.

"Ojiro carried me." she said, softly chuckling.

Croaker was currently squatting before them, fist on the ground as his dark brown eyes scanned over them, Tokoyami close enough to even see the yellow discoloration in the other man's sclerae.

"He really is terrible looking." Hagakure whispered to Tsuyu, Croaker's eyes narrowing at the remark. "You weren't kidding."

The man's mouth stretched into a smile, revealing his greenish teeth, drawing a noise of disgust from Hagakure. "Four on one, eh? Think you can handle such odds?" He asked, shifting back and forth on his legs in preparation to move.

"Where is Satsuki?" Tsuyu asked as she too moved into a squatting position of her own. Besides her, Tokoyami had Dark Shadow deployed, while Ojiro's tail whipped about.

"Nearby." Croaker's voice had a slight, nasily quality to it. To Tokoyami, it sounded like the man needed to clear his throat, and badly. "Need her out of the way so I can do this fight properly. Don't need a child slowing me down."

"Don't think this is our first go against villains now!" Hagakure exclaimed, her clothing showing her taking her own fighting stance. "I'd say your odds are pretty slim against four of us."

Tokoyami's eyes locked with Croaker's for a moment, butterflies surging up in his gut. Despite Hagakure's claim being right about them outnumbering him, the clammy thug in front of them didn't seemed too concerned.

"Don't think this is my first time fighting with heroes, either. I've been itching to have a good scrap like this. The chaff from the League are easy pickings, so let's see if UA can fill that gap." Croaker's mouth opened, his tongue slithering out followed by a soft hiss before suddenly sprinting straight towards them.

All the students tensed up, each ready for whatever attack came their way. Tokoyami took the lead, Dark Shadow surging forwards, Tsuyu and the others keeping their eyes on Croaker as he slid on his knees beneath Shadow, who was quickly turning to give chase. Croaker was back to running as he reached the other three, Tsuyu and Ojiro lunging forwards to meet him.

Croaker suddenly jumped while turning his body sideways, allowing him to cartwheel through the air to slip between them, forcing Shadow to stop less he run into the other two students. Before Croaker had landed, and before they could help, they watched his tongue lash out to snag hold of Hagakure's ankle, her clothing allowing him to easily guess the location despite her invisibility.

With the hold, the moment he landed on all fours, he was already springing backwards dragging Hagakure with him like Tokoyami had been earlier. His tongue was retracting as he landed, the man then twisting his head and body to cause Hagakure to go whipping by him, where he then let her go. The other three watched a pile of trash bags and cans get crushed as Hagakure's clothes slammed into them, where she then fell to the ground groaning.

"Toru!" Ojiro smacked his tail against the ground, jumping into the air as Tsuyu stuck low to the ground, moving along the opposite side of the alley. Tokoyami held back with Shadow, watching and waiting for an opening to attack with.

Ojiro had spun himself during his jump, coming around to swing his tail into Croaker who ducked very low to the ground, easily slipping beneath the strike before pivoting on a hand that he planted on the ground. As he swung his legs around towards the back of Ojiro's, who shifted his tail to block the attack, he suddenly kicked off the ground with one foot.

He came up on the one hand, legs swinging up and over his body before he brought his foot across Ojiro's face, knocking the teen back. Landing back on both feet, he then rolled to the side to avoid Tsuyu who had come at him with a kick of her own.

Croaker's counter attack was once again stopped by Shadow moving in, forcing the villain to jump backwards to avoid the attack. Shadow pursued after him, Croaker continuing to retreat by hopping up onto a nearby window AC unit.

"Shadow, now!" With a yell, Shadow lunged in towards the villain with a fist drawn back, though this time Croaker jumped towards Shadow, shifting his body to aim his feet towards the approaching Shadow. Shadow's attack was stopped by Croaker delivering a solid kick to the physical shadow, planting both feet into it and knocking it out of the way.

With another shift of his body, Croaker rightened himself so that he landed on all fours, lunging straight towards Tokoyami the moment he landed. The teen's eyes widened, barely moving himself out of the way and stepping back to try and make distance.

Fortunately, in a repeat of their practical exam, Tsuyu came in, tongue lashing out to smack Croaker across the face and knock him back before he could strike. She landed next to Tokoyami, Ojiro moving up next to them. "Is Toru ok?" Tsuyu asked, glancing to Ojiro who glanced back towards where she had landed. Looking, both of them only saw a set of discarded clothing lying near the trash pile. Ojiro gave Tsuyu a look, who nodded in understanding.

Croaker had stood up straight, stretching and flexing his shoulders and back. "Alright, alright." he began shaking out his arms, followed by rotating his ankles. "Good warm-up, and good to see that UA isn't all talk when it comes to their heroes." With a final crack of his knuckles, Croaker spread his arms to the side.

"Warm-up round over mother-fuckers!" Once again a grin spread across Croaker's face. "You ready for the real fight!?" he said as he knelt down, chuckling softly as he ground one foot into the concrete, prepping himself for another charge.

"Any ideas?" Ojiro asked, tail primed to launch him into the air.

"He's outnumbered, so we force him to keep moving." Fumikage said. "Control the fight."

Croaker broke into a sprint once again, moving towards them. This time Shadow held back, prepped to intercept the villain. Croaker broke his stride for a moment, the students watching him fire his tongue out to the side to grab hold of a discarded trash can. He spun on his foot, building the speed to then hurl the object towards Ojiro, Croaker moving fluidly back to a run.

Ojiro shifted to the side to avoid the flying object, Croaker shifting his direction to the side as well to then go towards Ojiro. Tsuyu had moved to assist her friend, Ojiro moving in to meet Croaker with a punch. It was deftly dodged, Croaker slipping to the side before using the nearby wall to suddenly spring up and over Ojiro.

Grabbing the teen's head, Croaker then landed on his feet, his grip being used to wrench Ojiro around to block Tsuyu, who jumped over the other as they stumbled by after being released.

She landed, trying to kick down at Croaker, who shifted towards the fallen Ojiro and Fumikage. Using the spin of his dodge again, Croaker hopped up slightly just in time to bring a round-kick across Shadow's head who had moved in to attack. The man's deceptively powerful leg knocked Shadow aside, Croaker landing on his feet to then flip backwards once more, avoiding a sweep aimed towards his legs by Ojiro.

He was forced to roll out of the way as Croaker's legs came down, hitting the ground where the student had been hard. Tsuyu's next attack missed it's mark, as Croaker leapt towards the rolling Ojiro while also avoiding the attack.

Suddenly wrapping his arms around Ojiro's abdomen, Croaker's feet arced through the air, landing on the other side Ojiro. With the hold, Croaker then began to lean back, wrenching Ojiro up by his gut as now the tailed-teen was coming up in an arc over the villain, who released him at the apex. Ojiro cried out in pain as he slammed hard again the stone wall he'd been thrown at, landing on the ground a moment afterwards.

Tsuyu ran in towards the villain, opting to deliver a kick to his side while he was recovering. Again shifting himself quickly, Croaker rolled so than he could bring his legs to face the frog-girl, whose kick was interrupted as Croaker kicked straight out, the bottom of his foot hitting her incoming shin. Tsuyu gasped, stumbling backwards as now she was left off balance.

Shadow moved in to cover her, punching downwards to strike the villain still on the ground. Croaker rolled past Shadow, about to spin himself back up onto his feet when instead he felt Fumikage's foot kick him straight in the back.

Now off balance from the interrupted movement, Shadow whirled around and delivered a solid punch to the toad-man, causing him to stumble back towards Fumikage who lashed out with another kick.

Croaker used the momentum of the punch to spin himself around to catch hold of Fumikage's kick, pinning it to his side and then grabbing hold of the teen's pant leg. Still spinning, he lifted Fumikage up off the ground and then released him, the bird-headed teen finding his back hitting against a wall, coughing as he felt the wind get knocked out of him as he fell.

He wrapped an arm around his torso, still coughing and trying to catch his breath, looking up to see Tsuyu delivering a kick into Croaker's side. The force of the blow knocked him over, but again Croaker simply moved with the force, rolling up and then hopping to the side to avoid a tongue strike from Tsuyu before he lashed out with his own towards her. She too moved her head in time to avoid it, moving next to Fumikage as Croaker landed away from them, a grin plastered on his face.

Shouting out in joy, Croaker began to chuckle as he watched them. "Hot damn! I'm sad we are just farting around with the League and not you heroes! This is definitely more entertaining than the fuck-wits." He looked to Ojiro who was to his side, then back to Tsuyu and Fumikage as they stood before him.

"Next?" Croaker asked, looking between them, "Do I need to make the first move again?"

"Got you covered!" a female voice called from the side, Croaker glancing over only to find a floating trashcan slamming into his face. Cursing as he stumbled back, Shadow immediately flew out, punching the distracted villain in the stomach hard.

With a gasp of his own as the air was now knocked form his lungs, Croaker stumbled backwards, Shadow following up the hit by punching him once more, this time knocking him back hard into the wall. He was prevented from falling by Shadow slamming him once more against the wall, an arm to the man's throat and lifting him up off of his feet slightly.

Now choking, having difficulty trying to get a breath, Croaker reached up trying to pry off the arm. The animated Shadow's grip was to strong though, keeping the man pinned.

"Good job, Shadow." Fumikage said, coughing once more as he then approached the struggling villain. He then looked to the side where the trashcan had been set down. "And thank you, Hagakure."

They heard a snicker by the trashcan, "You are most certainly welcome!" she said. Ojiro was now walking over, chuckling softly before his features hardened, all of them moving to look at the still struggling Croaker.

"Where is my sister?" Tsuyu said, both males there caught a little off guard by the unusual force in her voice.

Croaker scoffed in amusement, no longer struggling against Shadow by at least pressing on the arm enough to take some pressure off his throat. "Alright, alright. Right now you are fairly cold." any sound of amusement to follow the joke was cut off by more choking as Shadow applied more force.

Tsuyu was about to speak again when they all heard a soft voice calling out. "H-hello?! Is a-anyone there?!" they sounded terrified, and Tsuyu didn't wait a moment as she quickly made her way towards the source.

Fumikage watched her go, staying put to keep Croaker secured and against the wall. "There ya go! Getting much warmer!" Croaker called out, causing the bird-faced teen to turn and look at him with a scowl.

Tsuyu came around the corner Croaker had initially attacked from, where the sound had come from, looking around to try and find her sister. "Satsuki?!" she called out, pausing to listen.

"Ts-Tsuyu?! Tsuyu?!" the voice sounded desperate, and Tsuyu looked up to the one story building next to her where it came from. She quickly hopped up, sticking to the wall and then climbing onto the roof.

"Hold on!" she called out in response, pulling herself up onto the rooftop a moment later and looking around. Her eyes widened as they settled on Satsuki, who was sitting their, tears in her own eyes as she tried to figure out where she even was. "Satsuki!" Tsuyu called out, quickly running over towards the little girl.

Satsuki jerked her head around to see Tsuyu, her eyes lighting up with joy before she was quickly scooped up by her elder sister. Satsuki clung to Tsuyu, crying into her shoulder now. "Sissy!" she cried out, Tsuyu just tightening her hold on the little girl.

"Satsuki. It's alright, I got you now." Tsuyu said, stroking her sister's back in an attempt to try and sooth her. "You won't be going back to those evil guys again, I promise you." She just stood there, enjoying the moment as she kept a tight hold of her sister, a smile appearing on her thin lips as tears of her own falling from her closed eyes and rolling down her cheeks.

Down below, Croaker had his head turned enough to look in the direction of the noise, scoffing once more. "Really hot now." he said.

Fumikage held his scowl, even though the sounds of joy did make him want to smile some. However, he felt he needed to maintain a serious face, if only to impose upon the villain before them. Nearby, Ojiro was smiling though, looking towards the sounds, a re-dressed Hagakure walking up next to him, finishing with adjusting her shirt.

They then turned to look back at Croaker, who at this point had stopped struggling all-together now. "Told you the odds were against you." Hagakure said, an unseen hand settling on her hip. All of them could feel the smugness coming from her.

"Ha. Not the odds ya little bitch." Croaker said, sneering slightly as Shadow pressed against him once again. "I just got sloppy. Guess I haven't dealt with any cloaking people recently enough." Again he smiled, earning an "Ew..." from Hagakure.

"I'll give you this round." He said, snorting loudly afterwards as he shifted against Shadow's hold again.

"What were you doing with Satsuki?" Ojiro asked, stepping forwards some.

Croaker looked towards him, giving half a shrug, what with a shoulder pinned to the wall. "Well, she wanted some ice cream, and I figured I could use a cold cone myself."

"Where is the brother then?" Fumikage asked, ignoring the man's sarcasm while he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, last I knew he was still at the base." Was his response, snorting again before clearing his throat. "Would've been far more obvious if I was walking around carrying him and his sister at the same time."

"Then back to why you were out with her to begin with." Fumikage said, stepping closer and looking up at the man.

"Well I can't jsut tell you." Croaker said, "I did that, then I'd be pissing of Wesley. I'll tell you that never ends well for anyone."

Growling slightly, Shadow pressing harder on Croaker who hacked and tried again to at least keep the pressure off his throat. "He's not your concern at the moment."

Shadow eased up again, feeling satisfied with getting the point across, though Croaker didn't seem to agree. "He's always a concern, kid." Croaker then glanced towards the direction Tsuyu had gone as the sound of something landing echoed slightly through the alleyway. The others turned as well, seeing Tsuyu come around the corner, still holding Satsuki in her arms.

The sight made Fumikage's features soften, his scowl disappearing to be replaced by a small smile. A loud snort from Croaker though had him turning his head back, only to then feel something wet and viscous hit him in the eyes, causing Fumikage to stumble back. "Ah!" he cried out, reaching up to try and wipe away whatever had hit him, though it seemed stuck and he felt it hardening rapidly.

The other had looked at their peer, seeing a thick greenish-glob of rapidly hardening mucus covering his eyes, Shadow even having turned to look. Croaker made use of his distraction to lash out with his tongue, smacking Shadow hard across the face. The blow pressed Shadow back far enough for Croaker to bring a leg up and kick out at Shadow, the blow landing square and knocking him away.

Croaker fell to the ground, quickly hopping away from all of them, keeping his eyes on them while rubbing his neck. Ojiro had moved over to Fumikage, calming the other teen down before trying to wipe away the mucus, though it seemed to have completely hardened by this point. The other had now moved up, Tsuyu having reluctantly set Satsuki down right behind her, though she did keep a hand back, resting on the little girl's shoulder if only to make sure she was still there.

Croaker sighed contently, flexing his neck some before taking a stance once more. "Now then! Where were we?" He went to step forward, though suddenly stopped as he seemed to cock his head to the side slightly. The others, save Fumikage who was still distracted with being blinded, could hear the very soft sound of someone speaking by Croaker. Judging by how his head was turned, they could guess that he must be listening through an earphone that they hadn't noticed throughout the fight.

With a sound of disappointment, Croaker then turned to look at the students, though when he spoke it was clear he wasn't talking to any of them. "Dammit, this is actually entertaining." he growled out. He was scowling a moment afterwards, seeming to nod his head. "Got it."

The others watched the villain, crouch down, though instead of lunging towards them again, they watched as he jumped high into the air. He landed on the edge of a first story building near them, looking down at them before calling out. "You win this round assholes! I gotta bail though, sources tell me this is going to get out of my league real fast." With that he then turned and vanished beyond the lip of the rooftop.

Ojiro and Tsuyu considered pursuing, but with Fumikage still blinded and Satsuki in their possession, they both relented, letting the villain slip away from them. Tsuyu had turned, picking Satsuki up again, who gladly held onto her sister once again, before moving over to Fumikage. He had simmered down by now, realizing that the mucus didn't actually seem to cause any actual damage.

"You ok, Tokoyami?" Hagakure had asked, the invisible girl standing near him. Shadow by now had retreated back into Tokoyami, seeming to take a rest now that the danger seemed to be over.

"Y-yeah.." he said, hand out as he tried to figure out where anything was. He jumped slightly when something had grabbed hold of his arm, but a simple reassurance from Toru that it was just her had him calming down. She and Ojiro led Tokoyami over to a wall, where he decided to sit down against it, hand reaching up to rub his previously injured shoulder.

"Anyone else hurt?" he asked, "looking" around as he said it.

"A little tired, sore for certain." Ojiro said. rubbing at his back before looking over to Tsuyu and Hagakure.

"Same here." Toru said, "If anything I just feel gross right now." They could see her shudder, "I really don't want to feel a tongue like that on me ever again."

Surprisingly, it was Tokoyami who chuckled softly, "Well so long as we don't run into him again, you'll be fine. Tsuyu's tongue isn't isn't anywhere near as slimy." Toru had to stop herself form giggling at the remark, though a snort of amusement did slip through. Tokoyami could then feel a slight blush burn across his cheeks at the remark as he thought about it.

Tsuyu and Ojiro though both just chuckled softly at the remark, though all three students gasped, shouted, or yelped in surprise when something heavy landed with a forceful impact near them. Tokoyami as well was rapidly stumbling onto his feet, though a familiar, booming voice had him immediately relaxing.

"I'm glad to see you four are ok!" Spoke All Might, who was standing back up straight. His large grin had the three students who weren't blind visibly relaxing, whereas Satsuki was staring in awe at the number one hero standing before them.

He looked to Tokoyami, walking over to him and kneeling slightly to eye the hardened slime over his eyes. "Are you alright, young Tokoyami? Excluding the blindness, of course."

Tokoyami shakily nodded his head, "Y-yes sir."

With a hearty laugh, All Might stood back up to full height. "Good to hear!" He had turned to look at Tsuyu and Satsuki. "I see you rescued young Asui as well! Congrats to all four of you!"

Ojiro smiled nervously, rubbing at the back of his head while Toru did a small hop of joy. Tsuyu was content to hold her sister, Fumikage just nodding his head. "Now, I should probably scold you for fighting with the villain and using your quirks as unlicensed students," he then looked at Satsuki before laughing once again. "But I think I can let this one slide with you having rescued the little one!"

"Thank you, All-Might." Tsuyu said, shifting her sister in her arms a bit.

"Wow! All Might!" Satsuki said, still staring in awe at the man. "He's so much cooler in person than he is in your stories, Tsu!" she said, earning another hearty laugh from All Might, Tsuyu just smiling as she rested her chin against the younger girl's head.

The sound of sirens drew their attention to the end of the alleyway, All Might then looking back to Satsuki as he spoke, drawing all their attentions once more. "Once things here are cleared up, little one, we can talk some more!"

Satsuki eyes lit up again, "Yay!" she cheered out, drawing another laugh from the others, Fumikage even chuckling softly.

* * *

"So, what happened?" Wesley spoke from the other end of the radio, Croaker now sitting on the edge of a tall building, well away now from the alleyway where he had fought.

Rubbing his jaw some, he brought a leg up to rest his other arm on his knee. "Well, I can tell you that UA isn't a joke. Got sloppy with those students, took some hard knocks for it." Croaker responded, taking a moment to spit off the side of the building.

"Seltzer did warn that UA is the premiere hero academy in these parts. Think they reach that bar, then?"

Croaker shrugged, now literally stretching his legs out before letting them dangle over the edge. "Eh, nothing special compared to those back home. Though I guess I can only speak for the students."

"Now then, what of the girl?" Wesley quickly changed the subject, Croaker leaning back on his arms.

"They got her."

There was silence on the other end for a moment, "Alright then." Wesley started, "Up next is Rad then. Get looking for Scruffy, gotta figure out a schedule to work with."

Croaker nodded his head, hopping onto his feet before standing up. "Alright, alright. I gotta stop for a cigarette and drink though, if you don't mind."

"Pick up a pack for me too if you could."

"Pack of cigarettes or drinks?"

"Yes."

Croaker just sighed in response, cutting the call and hopping down from his perch. "Fucking asshole."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: All-righty! Chapter 5! Thank you all for putting up with my somewhat slow output of these chapters, and as always I hope you enjoy this chapter! Always feel free to let me know what you think, from just a simple opinion about the smallest part to the whole chapter, even any constructive criticism you can possibly give. I always love seeing a new comment pop up in my email! Thank you!


	6. Chapter 6

Tokoyami's eyes were closed, head leaning forwards letting the warm water of the shower flow through his feathers. Feeling it flow down over his face, the water then dripping from the tip of his beak. He sighed in relief, feeling the tension of the day be washed away by the water.

Well, the tension alongside the sweat and grime. He'd certainly acquired plenty of that chasing Croaker and then fighting with him. Speaking of grime, Tokoyami scowled slightly as he reached up to his brow, which had been rendered slightly bare. The toad-man's spit had been tough to remove from his eyes, though the teen was glad it hadn't done anything permanent.

Still, getting feathers plucked sucked just as much as someone getting hair pulled. They had been pretty careful about removing mucus, Tokoyami shuddering at the thought that it'd been hacked up from the man's throat, and again he felt lucky that it hadn't stuck to his eyes.

It'd be a few days before the feathers grew back, which made Tokoyami appreciate that classes were over and that they still had a week before the training camp. He never usually worried too much about his appearance, but when you were going for a dark and mysterious vibe and had a bald spot around your eyes, it tended to ruin that vibe.

His thoughts drifted back to after the fight where, despite his blindness, he was feeling a far greater sense of relief than panic. He was, one, happy he could maintain such a feeling despite the debilitation; he was also happy to have once more fought off a villain and save someone in the process.

It had felt good to know the rush of being a real hero, even if it did mean getting ambushed in a hug by a young, happy, child.

* * *

**-Earlier that night, after the fight-**

Tokoyami could hear a lot of activity all around him, from police, to some heroes. He was seated up near a wall, where to his side he could hear Ojiro and Toru talking. It felt nice to know they were there, just because being blind was not a fun feeling.

He reached up once more to his eyes, scratching a bit at the hardened substance sitting over them. He grimaced slightly, hoping that this wouldn't be a permanent issue. His eyes weren't hurting, surprisingly. He figured he must have been able to shut his eyes in time before the gunk had hardened.

This was certainly the worst kind of spit he'd after have sent his way. Then again, he'd never really ever been spit at, so guess it wasn't to hard a trophy for Croaker to take. He couldn't help but suddenly wonder if Tsuyu could do something similar.

He jumped in surprise when he heard someone say he name near him, the teen turning to "look" at the female voice that he quickly realized had come from Tsuyu. "How are you feeling, Tokoyami?" she asked.

With a sigh, he leaned his head back to rest against the wall behind him. "Could do without being blind," he began, once more finding himself scratching at the mucus. "But, I guess all-in-all, I can say...Well, I honestly feel pretty good."

A small smile formed on his beak. "Felt good to beat that guy, after all the trouble he's been. Not to mention, managed to rescue your sister."

"About that," Tsuyu said, Tokoyami trying to raise an eyebrow, only for it to be stopped. He heard some shuffling next to him, and he turned his head slightly to hear better. "Somebody wanted to thank you, all of you." she finished.

He could hear the other two students move behind him, and then a quiet croak next to him."Th-thank you." a small voice said, one Tokoyami could infer was Satsuki. He relaxed again as she continued, "It-It was scary. That guy was scary..." she paused for a moment.

"But, you guys fought him. Beat him!" suddenly Tokoyami felt something warm wrap around his neck, drawing a surprised squawk from him, which only made him more embarrassed at making such a noise. A chuckle form everyone else was followed by Satsuki, whose voice was right next to him, confirming his suspicion she was the one hugging him. "So thank you! I'm glad my big sis is being a hero with people like you!"

Tokoyami could hear Toru cooing at the sight, the teen shifting up next to him. "You are welcome! I'm glad we could save someone as adorable as you!" Tokoyami shifted, Satsuki still firmly latched to him. He was finding his breath catching in his throat, despite the fact he knew the young girl wasn't choking him.

"Y-Yeah. Yeah." Was all Tokoyami could muster, again feeling a burn in his cheeks as his peers chuckled.

* * *

Tokoyami shut off the water, reaching out to snatch up a towel which he used to start drying off his head as he stepped out of the shower. He then finished drying off the rest of himself, slipping on a loose pair of pants and a t-shirt before he then went to grab the hair dryer.

He had to admit that at first it felt odd using it, but he found it was definitely the best way to dry off all the feathers of his head. It sometimes surprised him just how much moisture the damned things could absorb.

Once finished with that, he then reached to the red choker sitting next to the sink. His eyes settled on it as he held it, looking at the gift his mother had given to him so long ago. He wondered what she'd have thought about tonight. Whether she'd have praised him for what he did, or freak out over it. Judging from the stories his dad told him of their hero days, she'd probably have done both in equal measure.

He situated the choker back around his neck, using it to hide the merging point between his bird and human features. While technically the choker he was wearing was not actually the one his mother had given to him his fifth birthday (despite how much he wanted to keep wearing it, a growing body made it impossible without literally choking himself), he still looked at it as a gift from her as he probably would not have started wearing one until much later than he did had she not given it to him.

He finally stepped out of the bathroom, dropping off the dirty laundry in the hamper next to the door before heading down the hallway towards his room. As he reached his door, he titled his head slightly to overhear the TV in the living room. He'd only caught a little of it, but a quick walk to the end of the hall to see the TV confirmed that he had heard it right.

His father was currently sitting in his usual spot, watching the news as they covered the nights events. Currently they were interviewing an officer at the scene of their fight with Croaker, though the man was able to give little information about what had happened. Tokoyami considered himself lucky that they had escaped before the news teams had arrived, and not just because he'd have been sitting their blinded by the toadman's snot.

He looked to his father, a slight frown forming across the teen's beak as he noticed his father's unusual posture. The man was sitting forwards, elbows on his knees as he watched the news intently, listening to the reporter go back to describing the scene now that her little interview was over. Arashi was clearly more alert than he usually was, Tokoyami debating on whether or not he should see what it was.

Was his father still just worried that Tokoyami had found himself in another fight with a villain? Concerned about the attack in general? They had managed to rescue Tsuyu's younger sister, so his dad's tense demeanor put Tokoyami on edge as well.

He jumped slightly when his father had turned his head to look right at Fumikage, "Not so old my hearing has completely faded, son." Arashi said.

Fumikage looked down slightly before back up his father. "I know, father." he said before looking back to the TV. "So, they..." he cursed inwardly at the slight pause he made, " they say anything new about what happened?"

Arashi turned to look back at the TV, "Just that All Might had shown up in time to catch the villain and save Miss Asui before he could escape with her, and that the villain had fled during the rescue." looking back to Fumikage, he shrugged again, "And that the villain had been pointed out quick enough for Pros to be alerted about him."

Fumikage nodded his head, understanding the story. He and his fellow peers were unlicensed students after all. Technically what they did had been illegal, so to avoid persecution they had to let someone else take credit for stopping Croaker. "Alright then. Well, goodnight, Father."

Arashi watched his son for a moment before nodding his head, "Goodnight, Fumikage." He then looked back to the TV, leaving Fumikage to stand there, still unsure of his father's thoughts.

Finally he decided to take a shot in the dark and guess, "Father," he began, Arashi turning his head once again to look at his son, "I'm sorry. If I worried you, that is."Arashi's eyes dropped to the floor, his frown deepening. Fumikage glanced back to Shadow who had emerged and settled on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry you have to keep getting calls about me being in trouble, I know it can't be easy to hear." Fumikage continued, turning back to face his father.

Arashi remained quiet for a moment before his eyes closed, the man letting out a heavy sigh. He brought a hand up to rub his head as he spoke, "Fumikage," he paused, opening his eyes, hand lowering as he thought about what to say.

He finally looked at Fumikage, making eye contact before he continued, "I'll start by saying that it's okay, worrying me and all. I've made peace with that demon long ago, so it's not as bad you might think it is." His frown remained though, causing Fumikage to shift a bit uncomfortably.

"Right now, I'm not worried. I'm upset." The teen blinked and then stared at his father, now even more confused. Arashi kept going, "I'm upset about what you did tonight, going up against that villain like you did."

Fumikage's beak was slightly agape, moving as he tried to think of what to say. Upset? His father was upset? Incredulously, Fumikage asked, "Why? The guy was right there, and with Asui's sister. We had to fight him if we wanted to get to her."

He faltered slightly as Arashi was scowling some, "Son, you shouldn't have fought with him, period. You should have, at best, kept an eye on him to let the pros deal with him. What you did was reckless, and frankly, stupid."

Fumikage eyes narrowed, a scowl of his own now forming. "Dad," he knew he was upset if he was using the shorter of the two nouns for his father, "I couldn't just let him get away. I mean, sure, alerting pros would have been a wise idea. I'll admit I messed up there. But he would have escaped had we done nothing."

"You charged headlong after a villain you knew little about, Fumikage." Arashi's stare hardened. "All we know about the guy was that he's got a quirk similar to your friend. Knowing their quirk, however, is only a part of the whole that is fighting villains."

By now, Arashi had turned fully to face Fumikage, who was still standing at the end of the hallway. "You had no idea why he was there, if he was setting up a trap, if he had allies nearby to run to. I know you are training to be a hero, but you need to remember that's what you are, a  _hero-in-training_."

"So what, I should have done nothing then?!" Fumikage raised his voice, "And what happened to the whole 'your strong, son.' "? Now you are telling me that you doubt my abilities?"

"Against these kinds of people, yes Fumikage, I do doubt your abilities." Arashi's response had Fumikage stepping back slightly, the young teen processing the words. It was strange, even kinda frightening with the what his father was saying. This just seemed so out of place. He could feel Shadow curl up tighter against him as well.

"Fumikage, these are not the same kind of villains you dealt with at USJ!" Arashi had stood up by now. "They have shown, repeatedly, that they are not some run-of-the-mill thugs who came out of some shadowy alley. They aren't here to just beat up on some kids who were unprepared. They have taken on Pros and come out on top in some cases. These people are a very serious threat. "

"But I won, dad." Fumikage responded, staring straight back at his father.

"There were four of you against him, Fumikage! And it ended with you being blinded by him. And the story I remember you telling me is that he fled, not because of you four. What did he tell you? That he had to flee because something tougher than him was coming? And who showed up not long after he had ran away?"

Fumikage's eyes had now turned away from his father's glare, looking off to the side. "Well, All Might." was what he said, knowing that his dad's question had really been rhetorical.

"Didn't you say it seemed like he was listening to someone? That he had someone on radio? Someone who was able to warn him of All Might approaching. That man was in contact with someone watching the city, who could see All Might coming and inform him." Arashi's arms crossed, the man taking a short breath, "He didn't run because you were winning, Fumikage. That toad of a man ran because All Might was coming and he knew that was an opponent he couldn't beat."

"Well, All Might seemed pretty pleased with what we accomplished, Father." Fumikage responded, eyes having returned to his father's once more.

Arashi's frown didn't change, "All Might isn't used to dealing with these kinds of villains, Fumikage." Fumikage's eyes narrowed a bit, about to retort, about to point out how All Might was the Number One hero for a reason. Arashi seemed to read his thoughts though, "I will not diminish the things that All Might has accomplished. The people he has fought and the work he has done, and the thousands he has saved. I absolutely understand that he is a great man and a great hero."

"But Fumikage, All Might doesn't deal with these kinds of people, or at least not regularly. The kind of people only interested in killing you. The kind of people who don't want to fight you fairly, that aren't interested in proving anything. These villains, they are hiding in the shadows, avoiding fights with the heroes because they know they can't win in a straight up brawl. So they are going to strike when nobody is ready, stab you in the back, slit your throat in your sleep."

"All Might is powerful, and that's why that villain ran. He stayed to fight you and your friends because he knew he could handle you, but the moment he knew someone stronger than him was coming he bailed. He is the kind of villain who is only going to fight All Might if he is absolutely certain that he can take him down." Arashi had paused now, watching his son digest the information.

"So what about Satsuki, then?" Fumikage said, trying to find anyway to justify what happened tonight. "So you are telling me saving her wasn't worth it?"

Arashi's scowl returned full force, "And what about the brother? The other hostage? Was he there, did you save him too?"

"Well, no. It was only Croaker and Asui's sister." Fumikage responded.

"So the brother is still in the hands of these villains then? In the hands of people who have threatened to mutilate and harm these two children if you simply  _talked_  about them? And now you've gone and fought with them, and took back one of their hostages. How the hell do you think they are going to respond to such an action, Fumikage?"

Now Fumikage couldn't think of anything to say, staring at his father as he tried in vain to argue back. His father was right though, Fumikage hadn't thought about what might happen to the other hostage now; what would happen to Tsuyu's brother. "I..." was all he could muster at the moment.

Wesley had threatened to hurt the two siblings just by talking about his group. Now they had gone right out and fought with one of them, and taken back one of their hostages. Tsuyu's brother was who knew where. They had no leads on where he was, and now Fumikage had gone and instigated them. He'd kicked the proverbial hornet's nest.

He looked up to his father, who was still watching him. "That is why I am upset, son. Because you charged recklessly into a fight with people you are not ready for." Arashi said softly. "These people will not play fair. You know how to fight, and you are absolutely a strong person, but these people don't want to fight. They only want to win and they will do anything and everything to achieve that victory."

"Innocent people are their shields, and they will use them to have you jumping through their hoops. And if you refuse to do so, they will punish you, and it'll be through those innocents."

The bird-headed teen was at a loss of words. He had just wanted to save the young girl, to be the hero he had always dreamed of being. He had succeeded too. He and his compatriots had beat Croaker and saved Satsuki. But now Fumikage was realizing they may have just doomed Tsuyu's brother in the process.

"D-Dad..." Fumikage stuttered out, staring at Arashi, "I..." He felt a horrible pit in his stomach, one he hadn't felt before. He was usually so level-headed, calm, and collected, but he had acted on impulse. Now, he found himself once more feeling a large sense of dread. He was terrified of what he might have done. "Please tell me I didn't just get her brother killed." he spoke, pleading to the older man as Shadow let out a quiet and sad shrill, the quirk curling in against its host.

He thought it had been the moment his father had spoken of, that the villains had slipped up and given him that moment. It had been a chance, that much was true. However, Fumikage realized that it wasn't the moment he should have waited for. His vision began to blur from the tears forming in his eyes, Fumikage unable to stop the horrid sense of dread that was coming over him. He felt arms suddenly encircle him, his father pulling him into a tight hug. He just rested his head against his father, beak moving slightly as he spoke softly, "Dad...I..." he couldn't muster up any other words.

Now it was Arashi's turn to be afraid. He had wanted to get a point across to his son, and it seemed like it had worked. But now his fatherly instincts were kicking in, seeing the horrid and distraught look on his boy's face. Suddenly, whatever point he was trying to make no longer felt important, as now he was concerned with what Fumikage might be thinking, and more importantly, what he was feeling. He held his son tightly, hand reaching up to stroke the top of his feathered head, feeling Shadow curl around the older man's torso to settle on his shoulder. The quirk also held a visage of fear and sadness.

He'd meant everything he had said, but again he felt compelled to try and sooth his son. "No, no, Fumikage." he spoke softly. "They won't kill the boy. They can't afford too." he said, his own face betraying his sadness when he heard the hitched breath of a teen trying to hold it together.

"But they threatened horrible things!" Fumikage managed to get out before he closed his eyes. "They told us to stay out..." he took in another choked breath, "...out of their fight. I just wanted to save her!" He pressed the side of his face against Arashi's torso, who continued to stroke the top of his head. "To be a hero...instead I...I doomed Asui's brother."

Arashi looked down at Fumikage, "No Fumikage. They won't kill the boy. They do that then they'll have nothing to hold back the other heroes." He looked back up, his eyes moving to settle on the TV as it continued to show the news, one of his hands moving so that he could also place it atop Shadow's head. "You didn't kill that boy, Fumikage. You didn't kill him." he repeated, eventually going quiet as he held his son, letting the teen vent whatever guilt and fear he was withholding.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this certainly is my shortest chapter, and while I don't want to make a trend of them being this short, I just couldn't think of a neat way to extend it out further. Anyways, I have a question I wish to extend to those readers still sticking with me. Usually I'm not one to directly ask for reviews and such, but right now I'm concerned that I may be losing my touch with this story, the plot grinding to a halt and having difficulty progressing things in a way I feel are not horribly and overtly forced/contrived.
> 
> So I ask what people are thinking so far, as while I certainly am willing to continue with this, as I do want to finish this story; there is a part in my head wondering if maybe I should head back and re-write some of it. Currently it's just a small thought, with my attention committed to the story at the moment. 
> 
> So let me know what people think, and as always, thank you for your continued support!


	7. Chapter 7

Nezu eyed the young man that was situated in the middle of the conference room at UA, Cementoss and Detective Tsukauchi sitting on one side of the U-shaped table with Ectoplasm on the opposite side; against the wall behind the man were two officers that had escorted him inside. The dirty-blonde in front of them had his hands cuffed behind the chair, tapping his foot as he looked around the room.

As they were all learning, this person was probably the best lead they had to figuring anything out about Wesley and his group. The police research, while not complete in getting all the information they'd requested from foreign agencies, was quickly revealing that they were probably not going to get much more.

The only reports they had on Wesley's gang were their own. So far nobody had been able to provide any useful information. The only Gibson's they found had nothing at all to do with the one they were after.

With information coming up at a minimal rate, Nezu had decided that talking to the person in front of them was their best option. The police had kept him in-house in one of their cells, and hadn't done any serious interrogation given the circumstances.

Nezu had a suspicion, given the concurrent nature of the man's arrival and Wesley's, that this person was going to give them something to work with. "I'm sorry we have to keep you restrained as you are, sir. Given recent events however, we have to take some levels of caution."

The man looked to Nezu, giving as much of a shrug as his restraints would allow. "Look, if this is the level of mistreatment that I'm receiving from the authorities, then I'm rather happy with it." He glanced back to the two officers, and then to the handcuffs, "Seriously, the fact I'm only in handcuffs is rather reassuring." He then looked back to the small mammal.

"Well, then I hope this'll make you amenable to answering our questions."

The man chuckled, shifting some in his chair, "Well, my entire goal was to help the good people here. It's the entire reason I risked being turned into a mass of scrambled atoms to get here."

Nezu nodded his head slowly, looking to the other heroes within the room before back to the man. "Right, well perhaps we can start with names, and then begin our questions based around your arrival. I am Principal Nezu, of UA Academy." He gestured first to Cementoss, "This pro-hero and faculty member Cementoss," he then went to Ectoplasm, "And this is Ectoplasm, who holds a similar position to Cementoss. I'm certain you've already met Detective Tsukauchi."

The man looked between them all, a small smile on his face before he looked back to Nezu, "So wait, this a school then?" he asked.

Nezu nodded his head, "Yes, UA Academy is the premiere academy for training heroes here in Japan." This seemed to brighten the man's mood.

"Holy shit, so that bird-kid really is a hero then." he chuckled softly.

"He is actually a student here, currently." Ectoplasm said, the man looking over and chuckling.

"Cracked my nose pretty good, he did." Sitting up some, the man then continued, "Well! My names is Eric Kretten, and I too would be a hero!" he said with a smile, "Granted, I didn't have a school to go to, but I made do I'd say."

"Yes, we recall you claiming as such, Mr. Kretten." Nezu said, "Here, however, to say that and not be on the registry means you are a vigilante."

Eric chuckled, "Well, to be fair where I come from I'm labelled as a vigilante anyways, which is technically not wrong. But we also don't have registries to register with, nor are we on good terms with authorities."

"I'm inferring that this is where your mention of a 'fraternity' comes into play?" Cementoss said, Eric looking over to the hero.

"Not 'a fraternity', The Fraternity. The full title being 'The Fraternity of Villains.' And back where I'm from, they are the ones in charge."

The others in the room, save for Nezu, exchanged looks, the Principal keeping his eyes on Eric. "Can we have a clearer definition of what you mean when you say they are 'in charge?"

Eric's cheery outlook dropped, eyes settling to the floor. "The only places they don't have full control of is Europe and Australia. They're working on taking those back though."

The silence was heavy, everyone watching the individual in front of them as they took in the information that was being presented to them. Needless to say, the wording Eric used had all of them in a serious state of confusion.

"Mr. Kretten," Nezu began, sitting up in his seat some more, "You do understand that what you are saying is some very far-fetched conspiracy-like theories, right? I can assure you that no villain organization has existed in a long time that was even able to control a single country, let alone the scope you are referring too."

"Even if they did," Ectoplasm cut in, "To be unknown to us to that degree would be impossible, especially if you claim that they control Japan."

"Well, as I told that bird-kid, which before I continue," Eric looked to them all now, a little befuddled, "Did he actually have a bird-head or did a concussion make that happen? Like I get you are a," he paused in thought as he stared at the principal, "something not human, but that kid seemed mostly person. I think..."

"Yes, he does have a bird-head, sir, now please continue." Nezu spoke softly.

Nodding his head some, Eric then slipped back to the original topic. "Well I told him, there was  _a lot_  I needed to explain to you folks. And knowing that there are actually fuckin' hero academies here, well I seem to have stumbled upon the right folks! I mean I tried to get your guys' attention, but guess things have gotten too crazy if you didn't know what I was saying."

"You are referring to the killer, as you kept repeating at the station," Detective Tsukauchi said, eyes turning to him. "Yet, you really didn't specify who they were the killer of. Now if it's the Hero Killer you are speaking about, well he's locked up and is of no danger to anyone right now."

Eric seemed to ponder for a moment, "Well, I mean I was referring to a dude who has killed heroes before, but no I wasn't saying 'the killer of blank.' I meant the villain, The Killer." All of those in the rooms stared at Eric, the young man looking at them all before sighing. "Look I didn't come up with the name, think he inherited the name from his father or something like that."

"Our looks of disbelief are not because of the name, Mr. Kretten. It is because we have no idea who you are talking about. Or I should say that I have an idea, but cannot confirm it." Nezu said.

Eric blinked, looking between them all. "Seriously? No idea? I was told you've been dealing with a bunch of villains and such, so you gotta have seen the guy. Hell he's the dude running the whole show, or at least I imagine he is since he is here."

Nezu and the others watched Eric, Nezu then glancing over to Cementoss and Ectoplasm before back to Eric. "Perhaps we can try to clarify some issues of confusion between us." he then reached to a remote that was sitting near him, which he fiddled with for a few before he then gestured to the screen located behind Eric.

The two officers there stepped out of the way as Eric twisted around, with a bit of difficulty still being shackled to his chair. A few moments later, a projection appeared on the wall. There were multiple pictures they had obtained of Wesley, from his face that they had saved from their call with him, to the best images they could get of when he had been first encountered on the streets, decked out in his combat gear. Other pictures of Croaker, the heavily armored villain, and the red-head also appeared.

The police had compiled these images and distributed them to news outlets to warn people of them, as well as possibly get leads on them if someone reported a sighting. Eric's face immediately became locked in a deep frown, his eyes slowly scanning over each of the images before him. Around this point, though Eric only gave a quick glance, All-Might had slipped into the room, though hidden in his true form. The two other officers there gave him an odd look, as they and Eric had no idea who the man actually was.

Regardless, Eric ignored him as he moved to take a seat near Ectoplasm, Eric looking back over the images though his eyes settled on Wesley's face. "Yeah, the blonde guy. He's the one we know as, and fear, The Killer." he then looked to Nezu. "You didn't catch his name?"

"He has only referred to himself by the name Wesley Gibson," they could see Eric blink in confusion, looking to the principal, "In truth, the only name we assume to be a villain name would be Croaker, who we've had more encounters with."

"Well fuck, I guess I didn't think he'd use his actual name." Eric muttered, eyes going to the ground as he scowled, "Damn, bird-head really must've rattled my brain." he sighed heavily, leaning back and hanging his head over the back of his seat, "Well shit."

"Mr. Kretten, it's best you start explaining the many things you wish to tell us. I think we'll start with where you are from."

Sitting up so that he could properly face Nezu, he then took a breath before locking gazes with the small mammal. "Your right. Might as well because this is gonna get pretty heavy." he shifted again, if only to get his arms in a less awkward position. "I'll start with the biggest thing, and that being that I am not from this Earth. And by that, I mean I come from a different Earth all-together." Despite the strange and skeptical looks he was getting, Eric did not once look away from Nezu. "I, Wesley, and his goons, are from a different universe."

Again, despite the looks from everyone else, Eric's face did not falter. He maintained his look at Nezu, seeming to know full-well the far-fetched nature of his tale. As expected, Nezu was certaintly skeptical of the claim. To think that there were whole other Earth's with it's own unique history to it, well it was absolutely a lot to digest, something he'd read in sci-fi or fantasy stories.

The principal, however, could not ignore that fact that the world he lived in was absolutely such a thing long ago. Nezu himself would have been something reminiscent of old mythos and legends in ancient times. Walking, talking animals, ones who could outsmart even the greatest of human minds

The fact that a person who didn't have some strange quirk was, in essence, special, if only because they were a minority. The entire USJ incident had been made possible by a villain who could warp large numbers of people with his own body. As much as Nezu wanted to be skeptical of Eric's words, it felt difficult for him to commit to such a belief.

He and Eric continued to look at one another, Eric keeping a straight face as he watched the small mammal in front of him. the man's look told Nezu two different things, that either the man was a very skilled actor and liar, or that he was completely and utterly serious.

It was even possible that Eric worked for Wesley and was here to try and sow confusion as to the villain's origin. Wesley's destructive capabilities though told Nezu that, if he was from their world that he surely would have shown up somewhere. It didn't matter if Wesley Gibson was just an alias, Nezu just felt it was impossible for the man to have not left some kind of record or mark before their first encounter with him.

"So why reveal yourselves now?" Nezu finally broke the silence. "And I refer to Wesley and yourself. If such travel was possible, why show yourselves now?"

Eric relaxed a bit before shrugging, "The answer to that, sir, is one I was sent to try and figure out actually. Generally, The Heroes Guild, what we heroes have decided to call ourselves, don't usually chase after the Fraternity when they do these raids."

"As difficult as it is to believe that what you are talking about is possible, let's just work under the idea that it is real. You're saying that The Fraternity does this kinda thing regularly." Ectoplasm said, shifting in his seat some.

Eric looked to the trench-coat wearing teacher, "Well to be specific, it is only the American branch that does this dimensional diving stuff, because they are the only section of the Fraternity that has that tech."

"American Branch?" Ectoplasm asked.

Eric nodded his head, "I told you, the only places they don't control, at least anymore, are Europe and Australia. And that's only because the Fraternity had itself a," Eric paused, seeming a bit confused, "civil-war, I guess you can call it. And they have Asia, Africa, and the Americas as three seperate branches."

"They have that much hold on everything?" Nezu asked, Eric scoffing in sarcastic amusement, looking back to Nezu as any sense of mirth then faded away.

"Their is no crime when a fraternity member is envolved. They do what they want, when they want, and all of it is brushed under the rug. The reality of our world, is that any authority that exists out there," His eyes settled on the floor in front of him, "They all answer to The Fraternity. It's why I was so concerned when your student said the police were coming. Because had I failed to make the jump over here..." He paused, eyes still settled on the floor.

After a moment of silence he continued, "Well, as I said," he then looked back to Nezu, "Handcuffs being the only restraints that I'm in is far more comforting a thought than you realize." All of those in the room just watched the young man, who looked no older than thirty.

"What of your Heroes Guild?" All Might broke the silence, Eric looking over to the currently unassuming man. "You spoke of the dimensional hopping as a rarity, yet here you are, claiming to have done so."

Eric nodded his head solemnly, "To give you the short version, The head of the Australian Branch, Mr. Rictus was his name, was the one who started up the whole civil-war-thing, and he did so by going after the one person who had been in his way, Solomon Seltzer A.K.A. The Professor, previous head of the American Branch."

"Well, Rictus and his goons wiped out most of the American members; or rather killed those who didn't join him. And then he took as much of Seltzer's tech as he could back to his place. Once Rictus and his branch were wiped out in return, the stolen stuff stayed behind. So we heroes made use of what we could. Hell, alot of the gadgets you took from me were Seltzer's tech."

All Might glanced over to Nezu, who had been watching the hero before turning his attention back to Eric. "So if you have the necessary technology to chase after the Fraternity, and if they do these 'raids' as you call them somewhat regularly, then why did they only send you?"

Eric looked to the emaciated individual, "Well firstly, just because we have the tech doesn't mean we fully understand it. Honestly, I was just happy that we manage to get me here alive, let alone land me in the right place. So already, big risk just trying to send people after them."

"Isn't that what makes someone a hero? Being willing to go in despite all of those risks?" Eric's eyes narrowed, a scowl appearing on his face, though All Might did not flinch or back-off from the glare.

"My home, is not like yours. We heroes are a dying breed. We were remnants of a past the Fraternity tried to wipe out." He shifted so that he could fully face the other man. "Hell, they did wipe us out for a time, removed heroes from the face of history." The young man finally sighed, shifting back some in his seat.

"Look, back home where I'm from, the Fraternity, villains, they run the world. Or at least ran all of it until about twenty some years ago. Us heroes were only able to emerge because of the void in power that Rictus' civil-war caused. It led to the destruction of the European and Australian branches, and for a time the American one." He looked to all the other heroes in the room, "As far as the whole world knows, the Fraternity doesn't exist, and we heroes are the bad guys."

"When I say they control things, I don't mean that they are just in charge." He looked back to Nezu now, who sat quietly and listened, "It'll sound like crazy conspiracy stuff, but I swear to you it's the truth. They not only control the world's authority, they control what the world sees and hears." His eyes settled on the floor, Eric letting out a shaky breath. "We are fighting to try and save a world that thinks we are the bad guys, because the bad guys tell them that's the case and they are none the wiser."

"Even when Rictus's plan caused the Fraternity's existence to become apparent, it was slowly re-erased by those who wanted to keep it that way. We heroes exist because of the knowledge that escaped, and the loss of the two continents for the Fraternity allowed us Heroes to actually make a mark of some kind, and we are still struggling everyday to do so."

Eric looked back to All Might once again, though this time he looked to the number one hero with the look of a battered veteran of war, "We don't chase them to other realms because of the risk of losing a hero to a mistake using the machines, and we don't ignore that risk because we heroes are an endangered species; an endangered species that is actively being hunted down to extinction."

The two men stared at one another, with one trying to get an honest read of the other, a pro-hero trying to understand the truth of the claimant's words. Finally, it was All Might this time who gave, nodding his head to Eric. "Then I am sorry, for questioning you like that." Eric didn't say anything, just nodded to All Might before looking away back to Nezu.

"So then, Eric, what makes this particular raid stand out so much that it would convince you heroes to take that risk?" Nezu asked, paws resting on the table.

Eric glanced back at the screen that still held the images of Wesley and his gang, the man's eyes scanning over them all. "It's because of who they sent." He shifted his seat some to better look at the screen. "I told you the American branch of the Fraternity was ravaged by Rictus's attack; and in turn, Rictus's entire plan was foiled by that blonde-haired bastard right there," He nodded his head to the picture of Wesley, whose blue eyes seemed to bore straight into everyone there despite it only being a picture. "who'd joined the Fraternity give-or-take three months before the war kicked off."

"I'll be blunt in saying that Wesley is absolutely one of the most dangerous people in our world, certainly sitting at the top five, and that's including anything and anyone." His eyes shifted to the other villains presented on the screen, "And each of the villains you all see here were there when Wesley retook the Americas back from the Hero Guild." With a heavy sigh, Eric shook his head, "We watched our greatest hero fall to that very asshole when he was finishing he re-conquest."

Finally, Eric turned back to look at everyone, "So, it was already a bit concerning when we saw that Wesley was hopping dimensions with all of his best behind him. The biggest red flag though, to us, was who else left with them. And it is someone you don't have a picture of yet. And that would The Doctor a.k.a. the clone of the original Solomon Seltzer." all eyes returned to Eric.

"Now, Seltzer would be another who falls into that category of top five most dangerous people, and only because as far as we know there is no one else smarter than that man. Anywhere, in any dimension. Seltzer himself may not be physically dangerous, but he is a genius we have not even come close to finding a match too."

"I'm going to infer that, because it concerns you so much, he not one who usually travels with the main group then?" this time it was Tsukauchi who presented the question, Eric turning and nodding his head in agreeance.

"Yeah, Seltzer is a scientist, not a fighter. What records we were able to grab from the stolen tech and its recorded jumps, Seltzer, or at least the original, never jumped along. He was always the man at HQ, directing stuff. If Wesley not only brought his best, people who have fought and killed plenty of heroes and villains alike, along with Seltzer." he paused for a moment before shaking his head, sighing in irritation.

"Well, it means that there is something here that Wesley wants badly, and he's not willing to wait to bring it back home. It's big enough, and important enough, that he wanted Seltzer here."

Slowly nodding his head, Nezu shifted to sit up more in his seat. "Do you have any idea what that might be, Mr. Kretten?" he asked, Eric shrugging.

"Not a damn idea, and that's why I'm here. To figure it out, and to help whoever may find themselves on the wrong end of The Killer." Eric responded.

All Might listened in again, though his eyes settled one more on the picture of Wesley. It may not have been a creative villain name, but in one encounter with the man they had over twenty police officers and three pro-heroes dead, all in less than an hour. Watching the image still, All Might found himself scowling. This was not a man he is going to let get away, not again.

* * *

Eraserhead slowly scanned the night streets, crouched on the edge of a building so that he could get a greater vantage point. His patrol tonight had been quiet so far, but he was only two hours in so there was no telling when things might kick off. Especially with how messy things had been as of late. He just hopped that Nezu and the others could make some progress with the man they had brought in.

Aizawa himself felt that it was probably a ploy by the villains, trying to get someone among their ranks to spy on them. There was already suspicion of one, except this suspected spy belonged to the League, or at least that's what many of them believed.

The whole mess between both the League and Wesley's group was in some ways exhilarating a thought for Aizawa, if only because it meant he'd get to face down such a large scale threat, and even get a chance to be one of the famous heroes of the past that he grew up hearing about. The stories of Heroes and Villains fighting that partly inspired him to become a hero.

Any enjoyment was crushed though by the turmoil he was forced to watch his students currently go through. Between the League and Wesley, he'd watched as his class of first-year students were being thrown into the proverbial deep-end of the hero pool. They were constantly being pitted against struggles even most pro-heroes would never experience. The Sports Festival, finals, and especially multiple villain attacks. All within a frame of only a couple months.

He had some pride in seeing his students continue to forge onward despite all stress they were being put under; however he was not blind to the fact that they are all just teenagers. Young heroes-in-training being thrown up[ against the worst case scenarios over-and-over again, all while having to focus on school as well. All while trying to also live just a normal life as a teen. He sighed softly, shaking his head. It's tough, but if there was one thing he knew, his students certainly had the ability to go beyond all of the turmoil and become great heroes.

A couple stopping at an alley, glancing down it before quickly moving on alerted Aizawa to something unscrupulous going on within. Quickly and effortlessly, he made his way to the street below, quietly walking towards the alleyway, while also gesturing for an approaching pedestrian to go in a different direction. The person seemed concerned, by followed the direction given to him and quickly retreated back the way they came.

Reaching the corner of the alley, he barely poked his head around the corner, just enough to see what was going on and not reveal himself. His eyes narrowed in slits, his gaze settling on a red-headed man who was stepping back from a wall, dusting off his hands, which were covered in metal-studded gauntlets. The plating covered the entirety of the top of his hand, and over his knuckles the studs were most pronounced. The metal over his forearms also had studs, though they were a bit more subdued, at least compared to the ones over his knuckles.

Next to the man stood someone decked head-to-toe in metal plated armor. Aizawa recognized the tubes that trailed over his arms and to his palms, which were currently out of sight at the moment. He knew where they ended though because he recognized them both as members of Wesley's entourage. He was about pull back out of view and make a call for reinforcements, but he saw the heavily armored one suddenly point towards Aizawa's position, the man's face hidden behind a reflective surface. He heard the distorted and raspy voice.

"We got a pepping tom, Prizer." Rad called out going to move past the red-head. He was stopped though, glancing to the man as Prizefighter turned to face Aizawa, who after making a discreet emergency message, had now emerged completely. The teacher saw no reason to remain hidden now that he'd been caught. Instead he intended to keep the two men in place before they could escape.

Prizefighter stepped forwards, though he held a hand out to Rad. "Give me Doc's knick-knack. I can guarantee ya, I've got this handled better than you do."

"The fuck makes you say that?" Rad asked, even as he removed a black, rectangular device from a place over his heart where it had been connected, setting it in fighter's hand.

"He'd just take cover from you." Fighter said as he took the device, clipping it onto one of the belts that came over fighter's torso, reminding Aizawa of a tactical vest or harness that police and soldiers might wear. Once it was settled, Fighter then began walking towards Aizawa. "Ain't that right? You'd just duck if he started spraying-and-praying."

Aizawa kept his eyes locked on the man who was still walking towards him. Prizefighter cracked his knuckles before taking a moment to reach up to his head, cracking his neck as well before shaking out his shoulders. Behind him, Rad made a disgusted noise at the cacophony of cracking joints. Finally the red-head took a stance, bringing his right arm up level with his chin while his left was a little lowered, though just as ready to be used as the man's right; both hands had also curled into a fist. He also squared his feet so that the were shoulder-width apart and then he began shifting back-and-forth on the balls of his feet.

It took Aizawa a few moments, but he quickly recognized the man's stance as something reminiscent of boxing, which, had he been against someone native to Japan, would have been a bit odd. But then again, Aizawa knew these people were definitely not normal. He too adopted his own stance, goggles over his eyes and scarf in hand, ready to be deployed. "He's gonna have to face me head on though." Prizefighter said, the man blind to the fact that Aizawa had activated his own quirk. He had no idea what the man could do in front of him, and since his ambush had failed he wasn't taking any chances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Alrighty, got number 7 up and running! I feel a little guilty that this one is just a big ol' dose of exposition, and a good chunk of my time was trying to do it in a way that I felt wasn't too dull. So hopefully I managed that alright! And another shorter one, but that may end up becoming a bit more of a thing just to help keep me...kinda consistent on posting? Though I imagine there may be longer ones later if I feel it is necessary for all the information there.
> 
> And also, I want to give a big shout-out and thank you to many of the readers, and especially the reviewers who responded to my little plight in the last chapter. All of you who had reviewed, and even to those who have simply read this far but kept quiet, I seriously want to thank you. Getting myself to write and finish stories has always been a struggle for me. Knowing, and reading, about people enjoying my story and wanting to see it continued help get me going. So please, continue to let me know as I gotta stay sharp on this.
> 
> So again, I sincerely and deeply thank all of you!


	8. Chapter 8

Aizawa shifted and slipped past the flurry of punches Prizefighter was throwing his way, nimbly avoiding the blows, if only barely. He would prefer to draw the fight out of the alley, as the villain was making good use of the tight quarters to never give Aizawa a chance to regroup or create space.

The hero though was not about to let Rad out of his field of view, as he did not want to be blindsided either by an attack, or not notice if the heavily-armored man tried to slip away. So now the teacher was constantly forced on the move, especially because Fighter was doing a decent job of trying to pin Aizawa against a wall or dumpster.

So far though, Fighter seemed to just be a physically conditioned person; quick, strong, and agile, while also well trained. Aizawa knew he'd either lost sight of the man or had to rest his eyes from using his own quirk, yet it didn't seem to change the pace or method in which Fighter was attacking him. Either the man's quirk was useless in this fight, or the more worrying idea, was that Prizefighter didn't need to use his quirk to fight.

An opening finally came, Aizawa slipping beneath a left hook and shifting to the side while bringing up his restraints to catch the hit. Now bound, Aizawa stepped back, tugging on the cloth and dragging Fighter with him. With a quick shift of his stance, lowering his center just below Fighter's own, he then attempted to throw him over his shoulder.

To the villain's credit, Fighter was able to move himself so that when he reached Aizawa he instead rolled along the hero's side rather than being slammed to the ground. Aizawa followed up behind it though, lunging forwards to deliver a solid kick into Fighter's stomach before he could recover his balance.

As he tried to retract the restraint cloth, planning to let the villain stumble back away and finally create the space he desired, the cloth went taunt as Prizefighter gripped the cloth tightly in the hand that'd been bound.

The sudden force of the villain's weight on the cloth had Aizawa stumbling in towards the enemy, right into the uppercut aimed straight at his gut. The hero coughed as the air was forced out of his lungs, his stomach lighting up in pain from taking a solid hit by a metal-covered-studded-gauntlet.

The villain's bound hand wrapped around Aizawa's neck, gripping the back of the man's head and then tightening, pulling the his head forwards and downwards. Aizawa felt his forehead meet Prizefighter's shoulder, who had curled in tightly as well to lock the hero up in a tight clinch. "Problem with binding an enemy is that now, you have'im stuck on you!" Fighter said before aiming another low angled hook towards Aizawa's side.

Aizawa leaned down to bring his arm down far enough so that the punch caught his elbow, which was still painful, but much better than the bottom of his rib-cage the punch was aimed for. Grimacing slightly, Aizawa did his best to block the free arm from delivering too many more effective blows, all while trying to pry lose the vice-like hold the villain had on his head.

Another solid punch to his gut had Aizawa forcing a break on the hold, waiting for the moment the man re-tightened his hold on Aizawa and using the pressure to then duck low and slip his head beneath the man's arm, and out of his grip. He also made use of the man's still bound limb, pulling it down forcibly and making the man stumble forwards into a knee strike right into his gut.

It was the villain's turn to wretch, staggered enough for Aizawa to successfully bring Fighter up over Eraserhead's shoulders in a throw, the man flailing through the air in an arc before he came crashing down hard.

With his arm still bound, Aizawa used the leverage to force the man's arm straight, driving the man onto his stomach less his shoulder or elbow snap from the pressure. "Problem with keeping yourself bound to your enemy, you're still set up to be slammed onto your ass." Aizawa said, pressing a foot down harder into the man's shoulder while pushing the arm further upwards, drawing a grunt of pain from Prizefighter.

A distorted voice caught Aizawa's attention from nearby, the hero looking to see Rad standing nearby, a hand raised with his palm facing Aizawa. The circular lens was currently dark, but if it was anything like Aoyama's belt, which it semi-resembled, then Aizawa had a good idea of what was probably coming his way. "Need help?" Radamaniac asked.

Another grunt of pain from the villain beneath him was followed by an answer, "Nah, nah." Suddenly, Aizawa's weight was no longer on anything, causing him to stumble slightly to prevent himself from falling. His eyes jerked downwards to see that Fighter had completely vanished from sight. His attention turned to movement at his side, seeing Fighter appear nearby and stumble himself.

"Dammit..." Aizawa muttered, annoyed with himself for getting sloppy on his own quirk use. Granted he hadn't even known what the man could do, but it was the kind of mistake he'd chastise his students for. Still, he had some distance to prepare for another engagement with the villains.

He needed to start timing his quirk use now, just so he didn't lose the stamina necessary to keep it active to prevent the man in front of him from teleporting. "You sure?" Rad finally asked, lowering his hand as he looked to Aizawa. He was suddenly stepping back though, as Aizawa had dashed in, Fighter turning to look as well and quickly adopting a defensive stance.

Moving in front of Rad, seeming to be set on taking on Aizawa by himself still, Prizefighter brought an arm up to block a kick from Aizawa. He followed up the block with a punch, once again beginning the process of trying to close in and pin down the hero. Eraserhead kept backing up, staying just out of Prizefighter's reach, his quirk active at the moment.

He slipped underneath a cross from the villain, dashing forwards and driving his elbow into the man's gut. He immediately stepped back away, leaning his head back to avoid a counter-punch, then moving again to avoid another follow up. Aizawa reached to a pouch on his belt as he moved away, spinning to face the approaching enemy while deploying a handful of caltrops.

The sharp metal traps scattered all over the ground, Aizawa having caught Fighter during a forward lunge so that he ended up stepping into the middle of them. He quickly stopped himself, barely avoiding stepping onto one of the spines. His eyes on the ground left him open for another kick, Aizawa dashing straight in to lash out with a blow that caused the man to stumble backwards. He made sure to keep his eyes on Fighter, just so he didn't teleport out of the traps.

"Gah~! Fuck!" The villain called out as he stepped on one of the caltrops, the man stumbling to try and not put more pressure on the wounded foot. The restraining cloth from Aizawa shot forth, wrapping around the villain and pulling him forwards towards more of the traps.

Gritting his teeth in pain as he stamped down on the foot with a caltrop in it, Prizefighter fought against Aizawa's pull. He forced his eyes to stay open, continuing to pull against the villain. "Bloody bastard..!" Prizefighter said through clenched teeth, wincing when he was tugged forwards again, forcing more pressure on his wounded foot.

Suddenly, the device Prizefighter had put onto his vest beeped a few times, finishing with a long beep which caught both of their attentions. "Finally!" Aizawa's already open eyes widened in shock when Fighter suddenly disappeared, the hero turning his head at the sound of something moving behind him, only to then be rammed in the back by a re-appearing Fighter.

Aizawa stumbled forwards from the blow, but quickly jumped and used his cloths to latch onto a nearby light to suspend himself above his own caltrops. He then looked to the villain once more, watching as the man was pulling the embedded metal spike from his foot with a grunt and hiss of pain.

"Took fuckin' long enough." he muttered, looking up at the teacher while tossing aside the metal object. He reached up, pulling the device from his vest and tossing it over to Rad, who let out a curse as he fumbled to catch the device suddenly thrown his way.

Readjusting his stance, Fighter looked to Aizawa who dropped to the ground. Suddenly, despite being in line-of-sight with Aizawa, Prizefighter vanished, suddenly appearing at the teachers side throwing a right hook aimed for his stomach. The hero was quick to move out of the way, avoiding the punch that cracked the bricks as the studs on the man's glove dug deep.

Disappearing once more, Fighter was on Aizawa's other side, this time catching the teacher in the side with a repeated right hook, before he vanished once more, appearing to Aizawa's opposite side to deliver a hard left upper-cut to the man's other floating rib.

Not waiting to be caught by another blow, Aizawa lept away to try and pull himself upwards and away from the strikes. After turning to watch the teacher leave, Fighter vanished once more.

Aizawa quickly shifted his weight to swing himself off the path he'd been moving, avoiding Fighter who appeared above where he'd been. His missed over-hand strike wrecked an AC unit sticking out from a window, the man then landing on the ground before watching Aizawa swing away to then land.

Again, the hero was able to avoid a punch from the a villain teleporting in front of him, but he was unable to avoid a third shot to his lower rib-cage that came from behind. He brought up his arms to block several punches aimed for his head as Fighter appeared right in front of him, feeling an uppercut slash his chin as it slipped up under his arms.

Stumbling away, he then slipped to the side to avoid a cross punch from the Irishman, taking the chance to return with his own counter cross, smashing the villain across the chin and knocking him back. The two finally separated, Fighter reaching up and wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

Aizawa stepped back, taking a few deep breaths before reaching up to pull his goggles from his eyes. He was definitely confused as to how the man was still using his quirk despite Aizawa erasing it, and considering it didn't seem to be working he decided to remove the sweat soaked things from his face.

Taking another deep breath of his own, Prizefighter looked to Aizawa. "So this is what a hero who don't have to run is like." He chuckled softly, smiling as he looked to the glaring hero. "To finally see one who ain't gotta run to see another day. Croaker of all people actually painted yer kids in a decent light, so gotta say I was excited to do this."

Aizawa wiped at the cut on his chin, glancing down at the blood smeared on his hand before back to Fighter who was taking his stance again. "Alright, break over buddy." The villain grinned, beckoning Aizawa with quick motion of his fingers. "Ready?"

"What the fuck am I looking at?" Came the crackled voice of Rad, which drew a confused look from both Fighter and Aizawa. Back on the man's armor was the black device he'd been given, and at the moment he was looking away from a hole in the wall in front of him, his gaze seeming to be settled on something behind the two combatants, the reflective visor over his eyes suddenly retracting so that his eyes could be seen, which narrowed in confusion, as if he didn't believe his own eyes.

Taking the hint, both men then turned to look at what had Rad's attention, Fighter blinking several times to make sure he was not imagining things either. Aizawa just raised an eyebrow, as all their eyes settled on two individuals standing at the end of the alley. One was a blonde haired woman, with a grin plastered on her face while next to her stood a tall, muscular man. Both of them wore sleeveless, collared tops, with a ruffled skirt of matching color; blue being the case for the woman, while the man sported a brown version.

"The Pussycats?" Aizawa asked, drawing a chuckle from the blonde lady.

"What?" Was Fighter's response, Rad just seeming to be dumbstruck.

* * *

"What the fuck am I looking at?" Wesley said, his eyes fixed on the screen that was displaying a camera feed from Rad's helmet. "I've seen flamboyant heroes, but that's definitely on the top end of things."

Next to him, seated as opposed to standing like Wesley, was Doctor, who had his goggles up in his hair, gaze calmly focused on the screen. "That, Wesley, is Nezu implementing a plan sooner than I thought he would."

Wesley glanced to Seltzer before back to the screen. "The fuck's the plan? Knock us dead while we're confused?"

"Technically, only one of them is necessary for Nezu's plan, I imagine they just decide to bring in the other three because there was no real reason not too."

"I asked what the plan was, not what the useless parts were, Doc."

"Their plan to find us, Wesley." He pressed a few keys on the terminal in front of him, the image they were watching shrinking some to make room for four more images to appear. Each one consisted of registry information along with an identification picture. Each image had on it the names of each hero, along with their hero name, and the name of their group.

"The 'Wild, Wild, Pussycats?' " Wesley asked, looking to Doc with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep." was Doc's response, Wesley just watching him for a moment before looking back to the screen.

* * *

"You really should include specifics when you call for assistance, Eraserhead!" Pixie-Bob exclaimed, deploying the claws from her gloves.

"Had to get out the call before they tried anything. Didn't have the chance." Aizawa said, his eyes returning to Prizefighter who was still looking towards Tiger and Pixie-Bob.

"Where was the warning on this one, Doc?" Fighter asked, now turning to better face the newcomers. The alley glowed red as a beam of red-light suddenly shot between the two men, both of whom backed off slightly to let it go by. The two Cats both moved out of the way of the attack, Rad marching between the hero and villain with his hand raised up.

"My turn for a fight!" Rad exclaimed, again firing another beam from his palm towards Pixie-Bob, who quickly moved out of the way before the villain raised his other hand to fire another beamed at Tiger, who was in the process of closing the distance, shifting his body to maneuver around the attack.

Eraserhead debated assisting, but he figured the two other pros could handle Rad, so he returned his attention to Fighter who had decided to leave Rad to his fight. Once again, Fighter closed the gap in an instant, appearing in Aizawa's face and unleashing a barrage of punches once again.

Tiger slipped around another blast from Rad, bending his body at the waist to then aim a punch at Rad's gut. The blow hit the man, but only shifted the villain back slightly before forcing Tiger to back off as he directed another beam at the hero. Aizawa at the moment kinda wished Tiger was dealing with Fighter, if only because the hero was far better suited to dealing with such an aggressive enemy.

A punch from Tiger came looping around to hit Rad's armored face, but the villain simply titled his head down and met the hero's fist with his forehead, smashing the punch away before using the moment to then deliver a powerful kick into the flexible man's body. Machinery whirred as the man's leg extend, and though Tiger's flexible form absorbed the worst of the hit, it was still enough to knock the hero away.

Any retaliation against the recovering hero was blocked by Rad having to turn his attention to a swooping creature of dirt and stone, the villain ducking beneath it before raising up a hand. Rather than a red beam, a blue was was fired off this time, smashing through the wing of creature, causing it's flight to be disrupted and for it to come tumbling out of the sky.

As he turned to then continue fighting Tiger, he instead found himself being wrapped up by the hero, Rad's arms being forcibly pinned to his side as Tiger constricted his form. "I'd say that's enough out of you." Tiger growled out, fighting against the machine-aided villain.

"I ain't dropping out of this fight yet you cross-dressing freak!" Rad shouted, several vents suddenly opening up on the man's armor, all of which rapidly began to glow red, to orange, and then to white. Tiger's curse of pain was accompanied by the sound of something being singed, and quickly he unwrapped himself from the villain. Rad lunged forwards, slamming his palm into Tiger before unleashing a beam, though this time it had dimmed down to a semi-faded red.

It didn't have the same punch as the other beams, but it was still enough to knock Tiger away from Rad, whose suit by this point had closed the vents once they had ceased glowing.

* * *

Wesley pressed a button on the terminal, Seltzer still having not taken his eyes off the fight. "Perhaps now is a time to drop out of the fight. You did your job, if shit hits the fan too hard there we aren't coming to bust your ass loose." he said to the comms of both Fighter and Rad.

* * *

"Not now, Wesley!" Rad shouted, not trying to keep the comment from being heard by others. Fighter just shook his head as he took a breather. By now, Tiger had rejoined with Pixie-Bob, the two heroes watching the heavily armored man as the tubes on his arms were pulsating rapidly, each one having reached a violet glow.

_Getting a scolding from the boss, big guy?_  Rad suddenly glanced around, very confused as to the origin of the feminine voice he just heard echo around his skull. He turned his attention back to Pixie and Tiger, both moving towards him. His attempt to raise both hands to fire more shots at them was hindered by something heavy landing on his shoulders, knocking his aim downwards and causing him to tear parallel ruts into the ground.

He then received a red-fur-lined boot to the chest, stumbling him backwards and leaving him open for a more powerful, combined strike from Pixie and Tiger, who let Mandalay land behind them after jumping off of Rad.

Rad regained his footing, growling as Fighter appeared next to him. "Well, at least the heroes here are a lot better than back home, huh?" Rad said, Fighter chuckling as he eyed Aizawa out in front of him.

"They be somethin', can say that." Prizefighter responded. Taking a deep breath again, Fighter shifted back into his fighting stance. "You drain yourself yet?"

Rad flexed his hands some, the tubes on his arms pulsating violet once again. "Venting took a bit, but hey, adrenaline does wonders for me."

"Alright shits heads, here's the deal." Fighter looked to Rad, as did the heroes there when a voice began to emanate from the villain's helmet. All but the Pussycats recognized the annoyed tone of Wesley coming from Rad's helmet.

Fighter raised an eyebrow looking at Rad. "You seriously have a loud speaker in that tin can?"

Rad shook his head, "Honestly don't know what all Doc put in this suit."

* * *

Wesley was leaning forwards on the terminal, having activated the loud speaker that he also just learned Rad's suit had. "You have two minutes before shit gets serious. You've been tagged, job's been done. Get. The. Fuck. Out." Wesley said, eyes shifting from Rad's camera feed over to a map of Musutafu, where a red dot was rapidly moving through the city and directly towards the current fight.

* * *

Fighter raised an eyebrow. "Tagged?"

"Explanation will follow once you fucking get back here. Now drop the subtlety, we don't care anymore. Just hit the beacon and fucking move!" Wesley shouted, the heroes prepping for whatever the villains had in store.

"Can't exactly just break away, Wesley!" Rad shouted back, reaching up to rub where his ear would be were it not blocked by his helmet.

"I didn't say break away numb-nuts, I said leave! One minute!"

Fighter glanced to Rad now, the heroes also looking fairly bit confused. Rad growled, "Dammit, right when the going was gettin' good, too!"

* * *

Wesley just growled, suddenly turning and storming past Doc. "Fuck it. Doc, open a damn gate to them."

Seltzer had moved forwards in his chair, rapidly typing away at the keyboard. "I wouldn't say now is the right time for this fight, Wesley."

Wesley stopped at a locker, hitting buttons on the keypad where it suddenly opened up, revealing to him his combat suit, as well as a multitude of weapons. "Think I don't know that, Doc? Fuckers need someone to get them out of that shit." he retorted as began to rummage through the locker.

Doc looked back at Wesley for a moment before back to screen, eyeing the red dot that was now mere seconds away from the scene. "Right after telling them you weren't going to save them, you are leaving to save them?"

Wesley was double checking his pistol, making sure it was loaded and that he had spare magazines, when he stopped and turned to glare at Doc, who turned once more to face Wesley. "Do not think you are the only one to be desperately craving a challenge, Wesley." Doc continued, going back to the monitor as he began to type at the keyboard to prep Wesley's departure. "You'll get your chance to fight, but right now is not that time."

Wesley silently watched Seltzer, finally just clicking his tongue in irritation before shutting the locker and making his way out of the room. "Also, they require the green haired one in yellow, so refrain from harming that one, if you could!" Doc called out.

* * *

Rad had now shifted into a defensive mode, covering Fighter who had fished a metal, cylindrical device from a pocket on his harness, one that Aizawa recognized from the very first time Wesley and Croaker had revealed themselves. He still had no idea what it did, but he had a feeling he was going to find out very soon, at least he was if they didn't stop them.

Rad was at the moment unleashing rapid, short, bursts of violet colored laser blasts in the direction of any heroes he saw, though he seemed less set on actually aiming and more so just keeping them at bay.

Currently it was working, as Aizawa had to retreat behind cover to avoid being hit, while the three members of the Pussycats had done the same thing. "You got that damn thing ready yet?!" Rad shouted to Fighter.

"Not exactly, arsehole. Working on it!" he responded.

Rad quickly spun around, hand raised as he fired a blast down the alleyway towards Aizawa, who quickly retreated out of sight. He then spun around once more, this time firing a blast to keep the Pussycats back. "Come on kitties! Follow the laser pointer!" Rad yelled, laughing and drawing an eye roll from Fighter.

Mandalay attempted to move out of the way of a blast, though when a hunk of brick blasted lose from the nearby wall hit her in the head, it caused her to stagger into the opposite one. Reaching up to grasp her head, she heard a warning shout from Tiger behind her, her eyes coming up in time to see Rad aiming his palm directly at her, the lens glowing a bright green as it prepared to fire straight at her.

The pressure wave she suddenly felt from behind her confused her, but when it seemed to only pass by her, she was able to look up in time to watch as Rad was suddenly hit, hard. A fist smashed into his face, knocking him off his feet and sending him down the alleyway.

Fighter jerked his head to Rad, then to where he had been, only to suffer a similar fate when a powerful fist collided with his stomach. He too was sent flying down the alleyway, finding himself bouncing across the ground to then slowly come to a skidding stop. "Bloody hell..." he groaned out, trying to blink away the dots swirling in his eyes, as well as keep the contents of his stomach there. He attempted to fight through the haze to figure out what the hell had just hit them.

Rad was slowly working his way back to his feet behind the car that he had slammed into, having knocked it up onto its side while he was dumped onto his back. "Holy fuck...since when did trains go through city alleys..?" he asked in a daze, stumbling and catching himself on the vehicle, propping himself up as he looked down the alleyway. The front of his helmet had a slight dent to it, and a crack traveled from the top of the reflective lenses over his eyes down to the bottom.

Fighter shook his head again, getting up onto a knee where he too looked down the alley. Where they both had been standing, they were treated to the sight of a tall, muscular man, his blonde hair sticking up in the front, his business suit somehow still intact despite the man's impressive bulk. He stood up to his full height, eyes settled on the two villains, a smile on his face. Prizefighter groaned, "Shite."

"I warned that you didn't want me getting involved." All Might said, clenching a fist, "This fight is over, because now, I am here." The two villains stared at him, Rad stumbling into the car once again.

"Fighter, not to worry you, but I'm seeing two of him. Now either that means you take the one on the left, and I take right, or, I got a concussion." Rad muttered, steadying himself now.

"Could do without either option frankly." Fighter grimaced, getting up to his feet despite his stomach still being in pain. "Hate ta talk some bad news, but dropped the beacon back there."

"Dammit, man." Rad groaned, "Any punches I take I'm givin' back to you." Rad raised his hands up, both lenses lighting up blue as he unleashed dual beams at All Might, all while Fighter quickly broke into a sprint towards the hero.

The Number One hero seemed to disappear, Fighter barely reacting in time to teleport and avoid a punch from All Might and appear back in the villains original place in the alley. Rad on the other hand was quickly trying to re-adjust his aim to keep on All Might, but once again the pro was in front of the armored man, Rad's hidden eyes widening.

"Detroit!" All Might's fist collided once more with Rad's helmet, driving the villain straight towards the ground as he followed through with the punch, "Smash!" the pavement gave as Rad was slammed into the cement, cratering it under the pressure and kicking up a massive gust of air, dust cloud churning up to accompany it, Fighter having turned his head to see his compatriot rag doll into the ground, arms and legs flailing upwards before his form finally settled in the crater.

Fighter's attention was drawn to Aizawa moving in towards him, the Irishman quickly avoiding a strike from him before teleporting away, only to have to dodge a blow from Tiger who had moved up as well. It was the villain's turn to now be forced on the defensive, using his teleportation to keep himself from being pinned in, especially when the other two pussycats had moved in to engage him.

All Might looked back towards the four heroes attacking the villain, turning to go and assist when a glow beneath him caught his attention. He was barely able to lean back enough to avoid a violet beam of light that a still conscious Rad fired up at him, All Might hopping back to avoid another strike.

Rad was slowly working his back up to his feet, the lenses of his helmet having finally shattered as the dent on the front had increased in severity. The villain's eyes seemed to have a mild glow to them now, as he once again brought up his hands to attack All Might. The emitters once again had a deep, violet glow to them, though when All Might felt his chest begin to burn, there was no visible beam to accompany the attack.

He quickly moved out of the way, once more lunging in to strike at the armored villain, but was stopped when the vents on the man's armor all opened up and began to have a dull glow to them. He quickly backed off, unsure what was happening, but Rad continued to attack All Might from a distance.

Fighter, on the other hand, had been able to recover the cylindrical device, and quickly disengaged himself from the gang of heroes. When he appeared near Rad though, he was unable to avoid the punch that All Might threw towards him. "Fuck!" was the most the man could get out before the blow crashed into his side, launching the man through the air and right into Rad.

Both villains bounced along the ground, Rad grinding to a stop much quicker than Fighter did. "Holy fuck..." Fighter groaned out as he got into a kneeling position once more, Rad taking a bit more time to prop himself up on elbows, having landed on his stomach.

"Surrender now, and the pummeling stops." All Might said. Behind him, the other heroes watched, Ragdoll having joined her compatriots on the ground by now. All of them were ready to act, prepped to attack the villains should they attempt something.

Fighter coughed hard, spitting blood from mouth, the man honestly surprised no teeth had been knocked loose yet. He brought up the hand holding the beacon, wiping what blood remained away from his mouth as Rad was getting up onto his knees. Despite the beating they were suddenly receiving, Fighter was smiling. "These are fuckin' heroes, I tell ye." He said, Rad just groaning.

"Admire later, escape now." he grumbled, his natural voice coming through alongside the distorted version from his helmet. By now, the street was beginning to light up red and blue from the flashes of police vehicles, though they remained back so as to avoid getting in the way of the heroes.

"Too late for that option." All Might said, starting to walk forwards before a gunshot behind him, followed by the buzz of the bullet going by his head had All Might snapping his head around, the sound of someone shouting in pain following. He could see that Aizawa and the Pussycats had all taken cover from the shooter, though he could see that Pixie was currently on the ground, All Might surprised to see Eric rolling off of her, hand up to the side of his head.

"Right in the ear! Fuck!" the man shouted, moving so that he was no longer in view of the alley, the man taking a moment to grab and pull Pixie-Bob out of the alley as well. All Might's eyes settled on the culprit, he teeth grinding against one another as he scowled at the individual standing at the other end of the alley.

His eyes locked with the hollow, red glare of Wesley's goggles, though All Might could feel the glare being returned. The villain had a single hand raised, pistol aimed down the alleyway and straight at the Number One Hero. Just as he was about to lunge forwards, intending to reach Wesley before he could get another shot off, All Might's back was alight with a burning pain as he was scorched by a blast from Rad.

The villain had gotten up to his knees, and with both hands forwards, launched a bright blue beam into the back of the distracted hero, maintaining the beam as he sent All Might down the alley straight towards Wesley at the end. The Killer had begun to walk forwards, moving to the side to let both the lasers and the flying form of All Might go by him. A moment later, both beams of light faded, Rad finally collapsing onto his hands as he took in heavy breaths.

All the other heroes had watched All Might go by, Pixie-Bob and Eric both getting to their feet, though Eric still had a hand over his ear, blood flowing from underneath it. Fighter was getting over the shock of the sudden change of events, quickly getting back to fiddling with the device in his hand. The other heroes took notice, Mandalay and Tiger about to move to try and deal with Fighter and the approaching Wesley respectively, but both of them stopped when Aizawa grabbed hold of them.

"Don't." he said, looking to the alleyway before back to Fighter. "Jetstream and Breaker both made the same mistake of going right for that gunman. Too much open space to not get shot." he was scowling, looking to Fighter who finally tossed the beacon to his side, the metal device bouncing for a few moments before it settled itself, swaying slightly from a weighted bottom keeping it propped then began to flash with a red, blinking light on it, no noise or anything to accompany it.

On the other side of the alley, Pixie turned her head to Eric when she heard a clicking sound from him. The man was now holding a small sphere, ignoring the blood flowing down the side of his face. She winced slightly when she saw that the top portion of his ear was missing, and what was left had also been torn back from his head, barely still attached to the side. Eric then looked past her and to the others.

"Move fast! Pick your target and go quick!" Eric shouted to them, Pixie-Bob about to ask about what he meant when Eric threw the device past her and into the alley, where immediately they heard Wesley fire a round into the thrown object. It exploded when the bullet struck it, releasing shrapnel in all directions, though the heroes were protected from it by the alley's walls.

Fighter brought his arms up, swearing up a storm when bits of metal struck unprotected portions of his flesh. Rad had lowered his head, so that the shrapnel couldn't find any way to his skin. Eric by this point quickly moved past Pixie-Bob, sprinting towards a dumpster to take cover behind as Wesley was also recovering form being pelted by super-sonic shards of metal, his own suit protecting him from any actual damage.

While none of the other heroes had any idea of who the newcomer was, they knew they had to act now. Once again, Tiger and Aizawa moved into the alley to go for Wesley, Mandalay, Pixie-Bob, and Ragdoll opting to go for Fighter and the barely moving Rad.

Wesley quickly shook off the slight confusion, raising his gun to fire on the three approaching heroes, forcing Tiger to duck behind cover of his own, Aizawa joining Eric behind the dumpster. He didn't fire though, seeing all of them hidden behind, and instead he chose to glance back at the smoking rubble where All Might had gone. Ignoring the heroes, he moved and began running to the wall next to him, where he then hopped up, planting his feet against it before he quickly began to run up it.

"Now he can run up walls?" Aizawa muttered, peeking over as The villain moved out of sight up on the rooftop.

"It's his suit, only God know's what else Seltzer put in it." Eric said, having watched as well. He then looked back down the alley, where Fighter had dragged Rad up to his feet and pushed him towards where the beacon had landed. The three female Pussycats ground to a halt when there was a crack of electricity, the air above the beacon arcing wildly before they watched a square, golden-yellow wall of light suddenly appear. It stretched in all directions, until it was about ten feet across, and ten feet in height form the ground.

Rad quickly stumbled into it, seeming to vanish through it as Fighter appeared near it, looking at them. His eyes settled on the rest of the heroes who emerged from the alley, the villain then swearing and startling when Wesley suddenly landed next to him. "The fuck you show up for, Wesley?" Prizefighter asked, the Irishman then looking back to the others.

"Shut the fuck up and get through the portal." Wesley then roughly shoved Fighter through, the man's gaze then settling on the other heroes. As he moved to bring up his pistol, all the heroes quickly moving to take cover before he could get the shot off, his other hand then shot up to his shoulder, Wesley spinning to the side as he gripped and drew the knife from it.

A large blur then came by him, Wesley ducking his head beneath the punch aimed for it from All Might, slipping to the side of the hero as he passed by and delivered a counter slash with the knife. He finished the movement by stepping up next to the gateway, All Might stumbling to a stop while his hand came up to his left side, gripping the gash that had been opened up there.

Turning to face Wesley, teeth set against one another in pain, All Might glared at Wesley, who currently had a now blood stained knife pointed at the Hero. "Not yet, you All Mighty Asshole!" Wesley shouted. "Gotta give the press time to come up with a catchy headliner for when I gut you like a fucking pig!" With that, Wesley then immediately turned and hopped through the gateway, vanishing into where it then collapsed in on itself a few moments later.

"Dammit!" All Might growled out, finally looking down to glance at the injury. He quickly brought up a hand to cover his mouth, trying to hide the blood that came up with the cough. He glanced to Aizawa who had come walking up. "You ok, Eraserhead?" the large man asked.

Aizawa nodded his head, though he glanced to the injury, "I think you should concern yourself with that, first." he said before glancing at where the villains had disappeared too.

"It hurts, but nothing that'll kill me." By now, the police were moving forwards, though clearly there wasn't much that they were going to be able to accomplish.

"Who is he?" Aizawa asked, drawing All Might's attention to the other pro, who indicated to Eric who was being approached by paramedics.

"That would be the hero that young Tokoyami ran into not too long ago." All Might said, Aizawa just scowling.

"And now he's just running about? And with his gadgets?"

All Might just sighed, once again quickly bringing up a hand to cover his cough. "Not sure how he got any of his gear back, but we were interrogating him when we got your call. I guess Nezu trusted him enough to let him go. It'll be interesting to hear more of Kretten's explanations." he then looked to Aizawa, who had looked back. "As the man best put it, there is a lot to explain."

"Are you alright, All Might?" spoke another voice, the two pro heroes turning their heads to look at Mandalay as she came walking up to them.

The Number One hero responded with his signature grin, "A scratch like this isn't going to stop me, Mandalay. Surprised to see you here already."

"Surprised to see you at all," Aizawa said, looking to the woman, "Not that I don't appreciate the assistance, but why are you here?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Nezu not explain to you anything?"

"He was not with us when we discussed the plan, but also Nezu only explained to us said plan tonight. I'm guessing he put out the call for you earlier than that?" Mandalay nodded her head.

"He actually called us yesterday." she then looked to Aizawa, smiling, "We were actually planning to call it a night for ourselves when your message got out. Glad we could get here in time to assist you and make sure Ragdoll marked them."

"Yes!" came the voice of Ragdoll as she suddenly popped up next to Aizawa, who recoiled slightly at the sudden intrusion to his personal space."Have all three marked, tagged, and ready to bag! We'll find them and get them in no time!"

Aizawa nodded, "Answers why you are here then." he then looked towards Eric, who was currently having his ear tended to by paramedics. "And him?"

All Might looked towards the self-proclaimed hero, who was now conversing with Pixie-Bob. "Well, once we return to the academy, there is a lot to explain. To put it mildly, things are a lot more complicated than we had originally thought." he then looked at where the portal had been, All Might's smile fading and being replaced by a scowl. "Mr. Gibson and his henchmen being here has some rather serious implications, at least if Mr. Kretten over there is to be believed."

All the heroes there, except for Ragdoll who at this point had gone off to bother Tiger, were looking at where the villains had disappeared too. Mandalay and Aizawa had fairly neutral expressions, if only because they were still in the dark as to what was happening. All Might on the other hand was once again internally cursing. The hand not cradling his wound had curled into a tight fist, the number one hero angry that he'd let Wesley slip away again.

"All Might." the large man suddenly looked to Aizawa, who was looking back up at him, "Don't let his escape get you. Nobody died tonight, and he made it clear that he intends to confront us, and especially you, again." All Might's hand slowly uncurled, his form relaxing. "You will get your chance to beat him."

All Might's face began to soften, Eraserhead giving the man a nod of his head before he began to walk away, Mandalay doing the same to join her team mates. He then looked up and around at the many people, the many eyes settled on him. He then quickly shifted his scowl back into a smile, his eyes going back to the escape point once more. Next time, The Killer was not getting away; All Might was not going to let that happen.

* * *

Fumikage eyes opened up, then immediately closed after being blinded by the light in the room. Why was it so bright? Letting his eyes adjust, Fumikage slowly sat up, looking around. Quickly he realized that he was in the living room, lying down on the couch. He shifted so that he could sit up better, wondering when he had fallen asleep.

The previous night came back to him quickly, the teen realizing he must have fallen asleep after exhausting himself from the revelation his father had made clear to him. His eyes immediately settled on the floor, beak shifting into a frown. "Dammit all." he muttered before turning to look for a clock, maybe figure out what time it was.

He was confused, realizing that the digital clock that sat on the end table of the couch was nowhere to be seen, and as his head turned, his eyes settled on the TV that was still on the news channel. Oddly enough, he couldn't see any indication of time, as the news usually had going. His confusion only grew as he finally took notice of the what the news was reporting.

Hs head cocked to the side, turning on the couch to fully face the TV. "Two bodies were discovered last night when members of the UA Faculty, after a reported week of no contact or communication, arrived at the home of retired hero Shadow Legion - Tokoyami Arashi, where he and his son, Tokoyami Fumikage, student at UA Academy, were discovered dead."

Blinking, now sitting up more, Fumikage leaned forwards. "The two were found dead in their living room, the forty-one year old father and fifteen year old student, throats having been slashed. Reports estimate that their time of death had been over a week ago, though no official time of death has been given."

Fumikage was up on his feet in an instant, "Father?!" he called out, head turning to face the chair his father was usually resting in. He froze, his whole body going rigid and his blood running cold as his eyes settled on his father, slouched in his chair, eyes staring lifelessly ahead, his neck and and torso covered in blood that was oozing from a deep gash in his neck.

"D-Dad..?" Fumikage muttered quietly, the teen slowly moving towards the pale form of his father. "No."

"You messed up, kid." A voice said behind him, Fumikage whirling around, eyes wide in shock as he stared at a geared up Wesley, who was casually leaning back against a wall. The black leather and plates of his suit had splotches of red on them, and in his blood soaked hand, he was tossing up and down a red-stained dagger.

The villain stared back at Fumikage, the man's fading blonde hair, the rugged and slightly wrinkled face, colored with splashes of red as well. He seemed disinterested, almost bored as he continued to flip the knife in his hands. "I warned you of what happens when you fuck with me kid, and the only reason people are gonna know your dead is because for some reason, someone gives a bit of a shit about you."

Fumikage stepped back, wondering why Shadow was not appearing. Wesley had ceased flipping the knife at this point, and he simply pointed it at the teen. "Not such a lucky duckling this time." Fumikage saw a gleam out of the corner of his eye, and he was able to turn his head just in time to see the same blood-slicked knife and hand reach under his throat. He felt the cold metal touch his bare neck, where he cried out as the knife was jerked across it.

* * *

Fumikage sat up quickly, body covered in a cold sweat and his breath coming out in labored gasps. His hand went right to his neck, feeling it and desperately trying to stop the non-existent wound there from bleeding. It took him a few moments, when he looked around to see his living room, though he could see the clock on the nearby table, displaying in red the time of 4:41 in the morning.

His eyes then came to the TV, where the news channel was still playing, but rather than his own death report it was just a display of the day's coming weather. Finally his eyes then came to his father, who wasn't moving in his chair, though to Fumikage's relief, he could see it was only because the older man was asleep, rather than dead.

Finally taking a shaky, deep breath to try and settle himself, running a hand through the feathers of his head, he worked to calm his rapidly beating heart. Next to him, he saw the familiar movement of Shadow emerging, seeming to twitch about in concern as well. The quirk eventually seemed to settle down as well when it saw Arashi sound asleep nearby.

"Dad's not dead." Shadow said, moving to settle on the back of the couch where Fumikage sat. It was a simple, yet relieving statement to hear.

"No, no he isn't." Fumikage responded, swinging his legs off the couch and resting his feet onto the floor. He leaned forwards, hand still on his head with one elbow on his thigh as he worked to settle his thoughts some more.

"Where is that bastard?!" Shadow said, looking around rapidly. "Or was he..."

"A dream as well." Fumikage finished for the quirk, knowing he'd been talking about the villain. The quirk growled, moving closer towards Arashi.

"I hate him." was all he said, Fumikage just giving a sarcastic scoff of amusement.

"Join the club." he then leaned back, taking another deep breath as his heart began to settle down. Once he'd calmed himself down, he then turned his head to look at his father, who had shifted some from the noise. That and Shadow moving to settle across the man's lap, nudging against his hand to nuzzle his way into the crook of the man's arm.

Leaning back again, Fumikage let out a long sigh. Perhaps he really should reach-out to Aizawa-sensei and see if he could point him towards some kind of help. It was bad enough feeling stressed when he was awake, but if nightmares were going to become a part of this...he sighed again.

He looked back to his father, who had now moved his arm to wrap around Shadow, the quirk's eyes having closed as he settled against Arashi. Fumikage watched his father, thinking and wondering if the retired hero had gone through something like what Fumikage was dealing with now. If so, the teen was jealous that the man seemed to handle it a lot better than Fumikage could.

Of course, his father had probably not been in his first year of high school when he had. The older man had probably been a couple years into his career as Shadow Legion by then. He and Fumikage's mother.

Fumikage's eyes settled on the picture that was resting on the arm of his father's chair, the framed photo resting flat beneath his father's hand. He could see that the picture was facing upwards, hidden beneath the elder's hand. Glancing to Arashi for a moment, Fumikage then carefully reached across his father the grab hold of the photo. Shadow's eyes opened up, watching his host carefully slide the picture out from under Arashi's hand.

Fishing it free, Fumikage settled back into his spot on the couch, gaze softening as he observed the picture in his hand. In it was his father, though at least ten years younger. His face lacked much of the subtle touches of age, mostly just slight wrinkles, and especially the dark coloration beneath his eyes.

In the bottom-center of the picture was a five-year-old Fumikage, having just grown out of the grey, down feathers he had when he was young. Instead he had feathers that were beginning to blacken, though they still had slight grey tint to them as they lengthened. As well, they began to develop a slight luster to them. And just behind his shoulder, the then camera-shy Shadow was barely peeking up over Fumikage's shoulder, his little claws slightly visible as he clung to his host.

An arm around his shoulder held him close against a woman only a year-and-a-half older than his father. She likewise had an arm around her, Arashi smiling while Fumikage's face was set in his usual stoic look.

The woman had a smile to accompany Arashi, but it was somewhat hidden because of her black beak. Despite a similar raven-like shape that Fumikage had, her feathers instead were a greyish-silver, with feathers of a darker grey surrounding faded, blue eyes. She was slightly shorter than Arashi as well, though given that she was leaning into him it made her height harder to judge. Around her neck was a red choker just like the one Fumikage wore.

She too had been a hero, known by the name of Multi-Mind. His father had always teased her for the name, though even he would admit it was fitting. She certaintly had felt a bit proud of it. Her real name had been Miyako, wife of Shadow Legion, and mother to Fumikage.

The teen just stared at the picture, his own hand slowly hovering to the image of his mother, fingers brushing over it as he did. Again he felt emotions welling up in his stomach and chest, the teen letting out a heavy sigh to try and alleviate the tension building there. he brought a hand up to brush away the forming tears in his eyes, becoming a bit annoyed with his own inability to control his emotions at the moment.

It was not the first, second, or even the hundredth time he'd seen this photo. His father always kept it on the table next to his chair, so whenever he moved through the living room Fumikage could see it. Just another byproduct of all the stress he was dealing with.

Right now though, looking at the picture, all he could really think of was how much he wished she was here. She'd only been around until he was five, where she was then taken by a ruptured brain aneurysm, of all things. Doctors suspected it had formed due to a head injury she had received before he had been born. Seemed it took five years for it to finally reveal itself, and it had to do so by killing her.

Maybe it was just him craving some kind of comfort from someone other than his father, and only because of last night's events. It was petty of him to want to avoid his father, as he knew everything going on was not the man's fault. Fumikage growled, leaning forwards again to place his head in his hands, the picture still resting on his lap.

He hated how out of control his emotions felt right now. He took a deep breath, hands lowering from his head though he was still leaning forwards on his thighs.

"I miss her." a voice to his side spoke, Fumikage's eyes settling on Shadow, who was still settled in Arashi's lap, though he was now resting his chin on their father's arm, eyes on Fumikage and primarily the picture.

Fumikage looked at Shadow for a while before closing his eyes, nodding his head. "Yeah, me too." He re-opened his eyes, settling back in his seat as he looked to the picture once more. "What do you think she would have said?" it was a poor question to direct towards Shadow, who already shared most of Fumikage's memories, but also because Shadow only seemed to have memories of when he had first appeared when Fumikage had turned four. Really, the Shadow knew even less about their mother.

Shadow looked to Fumikage, to Arashi, and then back to the picture. "I like to think she would have been ecstatic, proud of us beating Croaker."

"Only for us to realize how much we screwed up." Fumikage responded, eyes going back to the floor.

Shadow watched Fumikage again before nuzzling his chin against Arashi's arm, who shifted some from the disturbance. " _I think dad's proud of us, too."_ Shadow now spoke in Fumikage's head, which caught the teen off guard for a moment as he looked to Shadow just staring at him. " _I feel bad for him, really."_ Shadow now moved his head until it was under Arashi's hand.

" _I think he wanted to tell us how proud he was of our victory. He's gotta be dad first, though."_  Fumikage's eyes settled on the floor, processing what his quirk was saying.

"You really think so?"he said in a very quiet whisper. It barely made a sound, but with Shadow, so long as he thought the words, the quirk could hear him fine.

" _Mom and dad were proud heroes; I mean, they just wanted to help people. Mom only stopped because she needed to take care of us, and we both know, dad only retired because he then had to take up that responsibility."_

"Please, just get to the point. My head hurts too much to think things over." Fumikage grumbled, running a hand through his feathers.

" _I believe dad wants us to be the best hero we can be, Fumi. Which meant, he couldn't tell us how proud of our victory he was. He needed us to know how serious a mistake we made, so that we never do it again."_

Fumkage just watched Shadow, wondering firstly if maybe what the quirk was saying was how Fumikage actually felt. Even he still had trouble fully understanding what made Shadow tick. He then looked to his father, wondering secondly if the quirk was right. If so, Fumikage wasn't sure whether to be annoyed that his father couldn't just congratulate them, then explain their mistake; or maybe he should be happy his father is willing to be the bearer of bad news, if it means it would help Fumikage and Shadow become great heroes.

With a sigh, Fumikage then set the photo down next to him, the teen lying down on the couch again, head resting on the arm of the chair. All he did know, right now, was that being a hero was really damn difficult.

"...UA teachers Earserhead, as well as The number One Hero All-Might were able to fend off the villains, along with aid from the Wild, Wild, Pussycats tonight, though we have yet to receive information as to what the villains may have been up to." Fumikage';s eyes shot open, now looking at the TV and sitting up again. Under the reporter was a red banner, where it displayed Breaking News of a another Villain attack. Behind her was video feed of the location.

"It is suspected that the attack had been conducted by the new group of villains who have been exchanging blows with the League of Villains, though it appears they may be switching their targets. We will keep you up to date as new information is received." With that, the screen was then filled up with feed of the scene, though it was followed by a few clips of what end of the fight.

Fumikage's shoulder began to burn, his beak forming in a scowl as one of the final clips was the armored figure he knew all to well standing in front of the golden square. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Wesley was pointing a knife at an injured All Might, and was clearly saying something simply based on the man's posture, the audio equipment had not been able to pick up anything being said.

He watched Wesley vanish into the square, which vanished a few moments afterwards. It reminded Fumikage a bit of the warping villain at USJ, but it clearly had not come from a a quirk user, or at least not in anyway Fumikage could tell.

He was confused then on what it had been that Wesley had used. Were these guys using portals or something? Fumikage rubbed his head, reaching over to the TV remote and quickly changing the channel. "I fucking hate that guy.." Fumikage mumbled, knowing he must be really irritated if he was swearing.

"Join the club." Shadow muttered, the quirk's eyes closing as Fumikage just scoffed at him before lying back down.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Alrighty, Chapter number 8! I'll start by saying that, as always I want you to be honest with how you feel about the chapter and such. Life and Writer's (the latter especially) make it tough for me to get a chapter set and posted, but I always do my best and so want to know what people think.
> 
> On another note, I've been churning around the idea of possibly doing a smallish spin-off to this story, if only to avoid cluttering it up with other sub-plots. The main goal of the spin-off would be to run alongside the main story, and I don't plan on anything in the possible spin-off to be important to this main story. Basically, one wouldn't have to read the spin-off to understand what is going on in the main story, or certainly not have to read it to understand anything major.
> 
> Again, right now it is just a thought, another thing for me to inquire you readers about.
> 
> As always, I want to continue to give my whole-hearted thanks to those who continue to read, as well as to those who express their thoughts of my work. It's the spark that keeps me going, reading those things and knowing that I am doing a good job. So thank you to all who are still with me this far, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if the fighting may have been a little long.....
> 
> Anways! thank you!


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